The Shy, Sumissive Type
by SweetDarkLove
Summary: Crona likes Maka, there's only one problem, he is too terrified to tell her and risk ruining their friendship. So, when two dangerous Kishin Eggs start causing trouble for the students of a certain academy in Tokyo, home to a certain Host Club where the Kings of wooing women are said to be a part of, will Crona's luck finally pay off? Or will it just go from bad to worse?
1. Welcome to Ouran

_**Alright, this is going to be a normal thing I'm going to be doing, two stories at once. Seeing as how one of my stories is currently frozen until the voting I set up for it is complete, I will now work on this and my FMAB crossover.**_

_**This takes place one month post Soul Eater Anime, and post Episode 14 of OHHC Anime, though I am not going to be following the rest of the twelve episodes of Ouran, it is going to be my stuff only, though one thing I'm going to be doing is making Hikaru and Kaoru part Soul Eater Universe characters, it helps that no one has ever seen their parents, you will all understand what I have planned if I get good reviews on this and feel confidenet enough to continue.**_

_**There is no romance between Crona and Haruhi, or for any of the other Hosts in this fic, it is strictly friend-zone between them, though there will be a few 'funny', and a few little 'dawww' moments and interactions between them. I hope you enjoy it.**_

* * *

Everything was quiet inside the house except for the occasional light breathing, or the rustling of covers as the family slept inside, and no one noticed the two lone figures standing at the edge of its gate. The two tall, figures looked at the gate in front of them and then snickered as they walked up to the gate and pressed themselves up against the metal bars.

The two creatures' masked faces stretched as they pressed themselves further into the bars until their heads got through with silent, almost comical pops soon followed by the rest of their body. Then one of them walked up to the door of the house then raised its hand where it's right index finger glowed deep red before stretching and thinning into a nine-inch long blade which it then jammed into the lock of the house and twisted. With an unnoticeable click the door unlocked earning another snicker as the two silently crept through the house until they made it to the room of the youngest of their targets.

The blade creature twisted the knob, opened the door, and then peaked inside to see the young blonde haired girl sleeping, and then it looked over to the wall and chuckled when it saw the long yellow dress that marked the uniform for Ouran students.

The girl somehow heard the laugh and bolted upright in her bed to see the two tall, thin, men in strange business looking suits staring back at her from behind mostly blank masks with two round, pitch-black eye holes and a zigzag lines for a mouths "who are you? How did you get inside my house?" she demanded with some anger, and a small trace of fear.

The figures chuckled and then gave illustrious bows before the one of the right spoke up "'ello love" he spoke with an accent the girl recognized from Britain "the name's Knife" the girl didn't see them move but then the two were suddenly next to her bed staring her in the face "Johnny The Knife, at your service" he chuckled as the girl began trembling beneath him which he noticed and snickered at.

"And I would be Jake; Jake The Hammer" Johnny's brother chuckled with a matching accent at the look on her face "aww, wha's a matter little poppet? You look like you seen a pair o' monsters" he snickered before looking her up and down "ohhh, such a pretty face" he chuckled running a finger up her neck, earning a flinch as tears began forming in her eyes "I like that about the boss, always sends us after the pretty dolls he does" he snickered before backing up "I wonder if ol' mum is just as pretty?" he asked walking towards the door.

Johnny then raised his right hand which glowed deep red and when the glow faded it was wrapped in black fabric with two nail studs in the palm and back, and it also had five nine-inch long, snow-white blades, with a thin red line going down the middle of both the many blade's faces, coming out at the ends of the fingers making the girl's eyes widen.

Johnny chuckled seeing this "oh, go ahead girl, scream, scream for mum, and pop, get them nice and awake for my brother" he laughed before there was a loud _crack_ as the zigzag line on the bottom of his face opened up into a maw of triangle teeth and a long thin tongue flicked out over them and then Johnny licked up a stray tear from the girls face "Jake's really 'smashing' with the ladies you know" he laughed insanely with his new mouth as the girl screamed "that's it! Scream my little poppet scream for mummy and daddy!" he yelled laughing as his hand slashed down.

…

Crona shot a quick glance at the girl sitting next to him who currently had her face buried in a book and then shot back down to his own work when she looked up, feeling someone's eyes on her.

Why? Why-why-why-WHY! Why was this so difficult for him? Why was just sitting near Maka enough to reduce Crona into a fumbling mess? He liked her. Yeah he liked her, almost every one of Crona and Maka's friends knew that, except for Maka herself. They were two of the closest of friends so why was it that whenever he tried talking to her, whenever he actually tried telling her how he really felt, he always choked and dropped it or changed the subject? He didn't know why!

_"It's because you're a pansy"_ Ragnarok answered the boy's inner conflict for him _"seriously, the only way that you two will ever hook up is if you actually grow a set of balls and tell her, not likely, or if she asks you, and I don't see that happening any time soon."_

Ragnarok was shaking his head from within Crona's blood and thankfully the boy was able to keep the discomfort out of his face. He had no idea how to deal with Ragnarok doing things like that inside him, it felt weird and he didn't know how to handle weird movements inside of him.

_"Honestly, if that Soul douche didn't turn out to be gay, you would've lost that she-pig in a second"_ Ragnarok shook his head again _"I always knew him and that loud ass Black Star guy were chummy, but not __**that**__ chummy."_

_"Ragnarok! Don't talk about my friends like that!"_ Crona whined in his head _"why do you always have to be so mean to everyone?"_

_"Because you're too much of a pussy to do it!" _Ragnarok answered with a yell _"and come on, I saw how you were acting when they announced it, you were just a little __**too**__ happy for those two, admit it, you were only that happy because it meant less competition for the flat-chested bimbo."_

Crona was about to go off on Ragnarok for insulting Maka again, but then he froze when he felt someone's hand on his shoulder "hey Crona?"

Crona turned to see Maka standing next to him giving his shoulder a tiny shake "y-yes Maka?" he stammered.

"I guess you were having another argument with Ragnarok so you didn't hear, but we're wanted up in the Death-Room" she answered gesturing down to Stein who was slightly waving a small slip of paper.

"Oh, o-ok" he got and collected his things, then followed Maka out, all the time having to put up with Ragnarok's incessant chatter.

_"Come on! She's right there!"_ he yelled within Crona, somehow punching the boy's spleen _"the hall is empty; it's just you and her! So you can't use the excuse that you 'don't know how to deal with being rejected in public!'" _he mockingly quoted one of Crona's many excuses for why he didn't want to tell her_ "so get your ass moving and! Tell! Her!"_ somehow the tiny demon pushed Crona from within his own body and made him stumble into Maka, knocking them both down.

"You alright Crona?" she asked eyeing him with concern as he picked himself up and then gripped his arm remorsefully.

"Uh, um, uhh" Crona fumbled for words as Maka got up and dusted her skirt off.

_"Do it"_ Ragnarok said threateningly.

_"But Ragnarok-" _

_"Do it"_ Ragnarok said with growing irritation.

"_But Ragnarok! I can't just say it after bumping into her-"_

_"Damn it Crona, just freaking do it already!"_

"Uhh, Maka, I…" his eyes shifted around as he tried to say it, and Maka frowned.

"Yes?" she raised an eyebrow.

"I… I…" Crona looked down. He choked. Again. "I'm sorry for bumping into you."

Maka smiled as Ragnarok groaned, facepalming within Crona "oh, well don't worry about it, I'm not mad or anything, you probably just tripped" he smiled and then turned back to walking.

_"Freaking pussy"_ Ragnarok growled in Crona's head as the boy looked down weakly.

He was pathetic. He thought about this and sighed as he fell into step behind Maka again, oh well, at least he already knew how to deal with being pathetic.

The duo walked through the empty halls for a few more minute before stepping into the Death-Room, where the ever so goofy Death was waiting "hey there kids! Wazzup!"

"Nothing much Lord Death" Maka answered with a smile "what did you need us for?"

Death snapped his fingers and with a poof of smoke a newspaper appeared out of thin air next to him "well it looks like thing's are going down over in Tokyo" he handed the newspaper to Maka which she then read and frowned.

"Um… sir, this paper is dated about two weeks ago" she pointed out and Death nodded as a few more papers appeared in the air around him.

"Uh-huh, and the two Kishin Eggs who have been committing murders and stealing the victim's souls over in Tokyo have been doing the same thing the last every few nights for the past couple weeks" Death's giant hands came out and he crossed his arms.

"But sir, you would have known about this the first day it started, didn't Japan's branch send people out to go after these Kishin Eggs?" Maka frowned, and soon Crona was too as he read the paper.

"They did" Death answered and the two Meisters frowned again "I doubt you've heard it yet seeing as how you mostly read and your friends are all out fighting with each other all the time" he turned to Crona "also seeing as how you don't talk at all-" Crona looked to the side feeling uncomfortable "-but they sent out four two-star teams, and two three-star teams to go after these Eggs" Death's mask contorted into his version of a scowl "all of them were killed."

Maka and Crona's eyes widened "what? All of them?"

Death nodded "they were all found either smashed into the ground, nearly every bone in their bodies shattered, not broken, completely shattered, or they were sliced clean apart, either way they were just as dead."

Maka didn't understand still "so then why are you telling us this?"

"I suppose I was somewhat mistaken about saying they were all killed, one of them, a weapon, managed to get away and make it back to Japan's branch and tell them what happened."

"S-so where is this weapon?" Crona spoke up quietly.

"Dead, he died from serious injuries that night" Maka and Crona both looked down.

"So… what this weapon said, it has something to do with us?" Maka asked and Death nodded.

"The weapon said that these two Eggs were faster then anything they had ever encountered before, and for some reason, all of the Meisters could barely sense their souls, they could catch brief flashes of them, but they could never fully sense them" he pointed at the two in front of him "and that's where you come in."

"What do you want us to do?" Maka stood up straight waiting for orders.

"Maka, your soul perception is strong enough to where you can sense people all the way across the world" he gestured to Crona who briefly smiled at Maka remembering how she came for him when he and Miss Marie went after his mother "you're going because you'll have a much better chance of finding these souls, plus that weapon blood of yours gives you a good chance of protecting yourself as well, and then there's Crona" he pointed back at the demon-swordsmen "your body can survive almost any kind of damage other then getting hit by a wavelength, and from the weapon's account, they don't have any wavelength attacks, so that's why you're going with her, it doesn't matter how fast these Kishins are, it doesn't mean anything if their weapons can't pierce your skin."

"So when do we leave?" Maka asked with a nod.

"Soon, there is a plane getting ready to take you to Japan, so you have some time to go back home and get a few things you think you'll need, but first…" he snapped his fingers and two large bags plopped onto the ground at Crona and Maka's feet.

They both unzipped them and Maka stared at the long yellow dress in her hands with an eyebrow raised "uhh… Lord Death?" she eyed the death god with confusion as Crona pulled out a light blue jacket and pants.

"Those will be your uniforms for the entirety of your mission" Death said happily.

"W-where… exactly are we going?" Crona asked looking up to Death and back down to his uniform.

"You're both going to be spending your days within a place called Ouran Academy."

"Why exactly?" Maka asked with a frown.

"Something I noticed about each and everyone one of the murders" Death answered as a map popped up next to him with red circles over various areas, and a large black rimmed circle surrounding the smaller ones "they go around certain areas within this big one" he gestured the large circle surrounding the smaller ones "completely ignoring most homes, but one thing that stays the same about each of the homes they do hit, is that they are all home to students that attend Ouran academy."

"So you think they're targeting students and that if we stay there then we might have a chance of sensing these Kishins?" Maka asked stuffing the dress back into the bag.

"Yes exactly, very good Maka" Death clapped his hands and Maka couldn't help but chuckle a little "it's way too convenient who their targets are, and these two must have to scout out their targets before going after them, how else would they know who's a student?" Death then chuckled somewhat mischievously "oh yeah, and you two are going to be sharing a home during the time you are searching for these Eggs."

"Huh?" Crona began shaking then.

He was going to be living with someone? A girl of all things too? He could barely handle talking to one, and now he had to live with one? What if he messed up? What if he walked in on something or said something wrong and Maka ended up hating him forever-

"Oh, would you just! Shut! Up!" Ragnarok burst out of Crona's back and punched him in the head "stop worrying about every little thing! So what, you're going to be in the same house as her, not the same room, so you can easily avoid doing something stupid! So stop whining!"

"Oh, right, and Ragnarok, you're not allowed to come out during the time these two are at the academy" Ragnarok looked up from Crona to the reaper.

"Why the hell not?"

"We're sending them in under cover, we don't want the Eggs getting wise to them and being careful, we want them relaxed and confident" Death crossed his arms "and besides, you two have become somewhat famous in the Kishin world, impenetrable skin and a little demon bursting out of your back are hard things to miss."

Ragnarok crossed his arms grumbling "fine" he sneered over at Death before thinking of something "alright fine, but you're gonna owe me some serious candy for this."

"If you stay off the radar and these two find the Eggs then I'll give you as much as you want" Death chuckled.

Ragnarok slammed his hands down on Crona's head, pushing it down "really? As much as I want?" he asked as his mouth opened up and his tongue flicked across his lips "Crona! Get your ass moving damn it!" he grabbed a chunk of Crona's hair, jerked the boy's head towards the door and then punched the boy in the back of the head "the sooner you find these things the sooner I can eat! So giddy-up!" he hit the back of Crona's head a few more times like the boy was a horse.

"Ow, Ragnarok stop it!" Crona whined trying to grab the demon's hands as he walked as fast as he could towards the door "stop hitting me like I'm a horse! I don't know how to deal with being a horse!"

"Then move it!"

Maka sighed as they walked out the door "oh boy, so now I get to see how Ragnarok treats Crona when they're at home" he shook her head and picked up Crona's bag which he, understandably, couldn't pick up "alright Lord Death, we'll keep you posted about anything new!" she called jogging after Crona "hey Ragnarok, quit beating up on Crona! He doesn't even know where the plane is at…"

And so since Crona had everything he needed already with him, he followed Maka back to her and Soul's house where a certain cat met them at the door "oh, Maka, well this is a surprise" the small cat cocked her head before there was a poof of smoke "I didn't think you were the hooky type."

"I'm not playing hooky Blair" Maka said irritably as the smoke cleared and then she looked down with a grown because Blair had nothing but her tiny, very tiny, bra and panties on.

Crona saw this and squeaked before snapping around to face the other way "oh is that Crona?" Blair popped out the door, turned the small boy around and began smothering him, earning a dark nosebleed and a word fumbling Crona "hey, it's the cute little sword boy!"

_"Don't you say a word"_ Ragnarok growled to Crona enjoying this way too much.

"Blair, enough! You're scaring him" Maka pulled out a book and Blair immediately let go of Crona with a pout.

"You're no fun Maka" Blair crossed her arms and stepped back inside "… sooo, why are you back?"

"Lord Death gave us a mission and gave us some time to get anything we wanted to bring packed up" Maka answered going to her room.

"Oh? Where are you two going?" Blair cocked her head.

Crona still had his backed turned to Blair "a-a place called Ouran Academy" he didn't see her ears perk up.

"Wait… in Tokyo?" she asked curiously.

Crona turned a fraction "you've heard of it?"

"Oh boy! Sword-boy, listen to me!" Blair grabbed Crona by the shoulders and flipped him around again; resulting in a deep blush on his part "I've got two friends that go there, well, more like nephews I guess" she giggled "they're called the Hitachin Twins, Hikaru, and Kaoru, if you run into them, can you please tell them that Blair says hi?"

Crona's eyes darted around to everything except for what was in front of him "y-y-yeah, s-sure thing."

"Oh thank you little sword-boy!" she pulled him into another smother fest then backed up and kissed his cheek, making his blush deepen tenfold as she pulled him back in.

Maka finished gathering her things and closed the door to her room "alright, I've got all the books I haven't gotten around to reading so we can head out Cro-" she saw Blair smothering Crona again "Blair! What did I just get through saying!" she yelled pulling a book from her bag.

…

When the two Meisters got off the plane it was already getting dark and so by the time they were finished unpacking it was deep into the night. Maka pushed out her soul, searching for anything throughout Tokyo in the radius Death gave them, but she didn't feel anything, looks like these two stayed outside that radius when they didn't go off murdering people.

"Ok Crona, I'm not feeling anything so I'm pretty sure it's safe" Maka finally said, opening her eyes before stretching and yawning "good thing too, because I am beat!" she groaned as something popped "well, good night, see you in the morning" she waved going to her room.

"Y-yeah, goodnight" Crona gave a shaky wave back before sighing and then gripping the sides of his head, yelling at himself in his head. He really, _really_, didn't know how to deal with sharing a house with a girl!

"Oh god damn it Crona, just go get your ass in bed and go to sleep" Ragnarok groaned, not even bothering to come out, he was just as tired as Maka "I don't want to listen to your whining anymore, so just shut up."

"Yes sir" Crona looked down weakly and then walked off to his room.

…

The following morning after Crona and Maka ate a quick breakfast in their PJ's, they went off to their rooms to change. After putting his on Crona looked himself over in the mirror and couldn't keep himself from shaking. He missed his robe. He absolutely hated wearing new clothes because he didn't know how to deal with that strange 'new' smell that came with them. He shook his head and sighed before stepping out of his room, wear he was met by a bright flash of yellow.

Crona stared at Maka in the dress she wore, and she stared at him vise-versa, apparently Maka decided not to put her hair into its usual pigtails and just let it hang loose "wow" they both said upon seeing each other and Maka soon smiled with an eyebrow raised "you know, I don't think I've never seen you in normal clothes before."

Crona gripped his arm, and then he let go. It felt different then when he did it in his robe. He didn't know how to handle different "well… I… I-I don't really like wearing new things, I-I don't really know how to deal with new" Maka couldn't help but laugh at that "uhh… you… y-you look pretty in that" Maka stopped laughing and looked at him with some disbelief, instantly making him worry "oh no, d-did I say something wrong?"

Maka chuckled again and waved her hand "oh no, don't worry, it's just I don't think I've ever heard you compliment a girl on her appearance either" she smiled at him "thanks for that by the way."

"Oh, uhh, sure, n-no problem" he smiled sheepishly "s-so are we ready to go?"

"Yep, so let's get moving, don't want to be late on our first day at regular school" oh if she only knew how false that statement was.

Crona kept to his usual routine of snapping his attention to anything moving faster than a slug or anything louder then someone writing with a pencil as he and Maka stepped into the gigantic building that was the high-school portion of Ouran. After getting their schedules and going of to the first of their completely shared list they walked through the large halls filled with other students racing off to their classes until reaching their classroom.

Upon entering everyone stopped for a second to look at the two newcomers, each of them noting that they hadn't ever seen their faces before "oh, you two must be the new students" the teacher said reinforcing everyone's thoughts "well then class, just to get things out of the way quickly, these two are a pair of foreign exchange students from America" she gestured to Crona first, much to his disliking, though he still wouldn't have liked it if the teacher called him second, he'd still be the center of attention, something he didn't know how to deal with "this is Crona Gorgon" she gestured over to Maka "and Maka Albarn."

Most of the students nodded and waved and then two of them got up, two boys, both with brown hair, though one was a slight grayish brown, but one wearing a pair of glasses "hello there, I'm the class representative Kazukiyo Soga" he held his hand out to Crona, but the boy only stared at it, leaving Soga to feel somewhat uncomfortable before retracting his hand.

"And I'm his assistant, Haruhi Fujioka" the other boy held his hand out to Maka who smiled and shook it. After looking at Haruhi for a little it was now that Crona noticed how the boy seemed to give off that strange word-fumbling, fear inducing aura that girls always put off whenever he was around them "we'd like to welcome you to Ouran Academy."

"Thanks, I'm glad you'll have us" Maka smiled while Crona only gave a brief, shaky nod.

And the whole time the two undercover Meisters were getting introduced to a few of the more helpful people in the class, a certain pair of twins were watching them silently from the back of the room, more specifically they were watching the boy with curiosity "he seems like a strange one 'ey Kaoru?" Hikaru asked with a sly smile.

"Yeah, he seems nervous doesn't he?" Kaoru answered smiling, already knowing his brothers thoughts.

"Hmm… you know, he looks rather cute too doesn't he?" Hikaru asked staring at the Crona's face as the boy stumbled and blushed after accidently bumping into a girl who was getting up "the ladies seems to think so at least" he gestured to a small group of girls that had gotten into desks around the small boy, asking him question after question about what things were like at his old school "you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Kaoru chuckled "oh come on Hikaru, you already know we think the exact same things" he grinned over at the unsuspecting Crona who was shakily answering the girls around him, trying not to say anything that could blow his and Maka's cover "things _have_ been getting a little stale over at the club lately, I think we could do with a new recruit."

"But how to get him there…" Hikaru tapped his chin before the two brothers grinned at once and looked over at Haruhi.

Kaoru smiled and then snickered loving the idea he and his brother were sharing "I think it's time to dust off something from the club's past-"

"-Like how a certain, shocking little secret owning member joined" Hikaru finished snickering himself "oh boy, Kyoya is gonna be _sooo_ mad with us if we do this."

"Yeah, but if all goes as planned he'll be making a lot more money anyway so he should be thanking us" Kaoru shrugged with a grin before the two looked back at Crona mischievously "besides, all of us except for Tamaki have never liked those vases."

* * *

_**Alright. I will leave it to all of you. Should I go along with this story? Or should I drop it? It all depends on your opinions. SDL out.**_

_**Ok, hopefully I have fixed all the grammar issues. Freaking FF.N always seems to do something weird and change words up or cut them whenever I upload them.**_


	2. As of Today, You Are a Host

_**That vase… that damn, damn vase, it get's you every time.**_

* * *

_**One week later**_

Crona sighed and closed his book then got up and walked out of the beyond noisy lunchroom. All he wanted was a quiet place to read his book in peace, was that so much to ask for? He'd been having trouble finding something else to do ever since the other students saw how smart Maka was and began asking her constantly for study sessions, leaving Crona all alone. He took a page from Maka and checked out a few books and soon found that he really enjoyed reading mystery or romance novels, he always got sucked into the books quickly, but the only problem was that he was always getting interrupted because all of the students were so loud! And it was everywhere too! In the lunchroom, the patio outside the lunchroom, the art room, even all four of the libraries, the libraries of all places! Everywhere he went just had so much talking and noise and he didn't know how to deal with all of it.

_"Oh please, if you ask me those loud kids are helping you"_ Ragnarok said from within him _"those fucking romance books are for pussies, stick to the mystery stuff, at least there's some good murder in there."_

_"But I like the romance books"_ Crona frowned to himself _"I like the happy endings they have, and the characters are always so nice to each-"_

_"Pussy"_ Ragnarok interrupted and then he dived back into whatever place he went to whenever he wanted to ignore Crona for a while.

Crona sighed again, not even noticing the two orange haired twins following him about twenty paces back "so Hikaru, do you think this is our chance?" Hikaru asked smiling at the back of Crona's head "he seems to be all alone and is having trouble finding a quiet place to go."

"I think you're right Kaoru, nowhere seems to be quiet enough for him" the two brothers both smiled "well, almost nowhere" he chuckled and then he split up from his brother and walked down a separate hallway "I'll go back to the Club, make sure everything is set to go, just get him to come there and things should sort themselves out by themselves."

"Oh this is gonna be the best things we've ever done, by far, I mean, tricking someone into coming into the Host Club and becoming indebted to us, it's so evil, I love it" the other twin snickered and then he sped up to catch Crona "hey there!" Crona tensed and stopped when he heard Kaoru and turned to see the boy "I couldn't help but notice that you've been walking through just about everywhere in Ouran. Having some trouble finding a quiet place to read?" he asked gesturing at the book in Crona's hands.

Crona's eyes shifted around "oh, uhh, yeah, I-I-it's just too loud everywhere."

Kaoru smiled "well have you tried out Music Room 3 yet?"

Crona frowned, he'd already checked the music room, he didn't hear anything about more "t-there's more then one?"

"Yeah, Ouran has a bunch of extra rooms for certain classes in it, Music Room 3 is just one of the ones that doesn't get used much" he shrugged and turned "nobody really ever goes there" thank goodness Crona couldn't see the shaky, holding back laughs smile on his face and Kaoru was able to keep the laugh out of his voice "so it should be nice and quiet for you" he began walking toward the hall his brother took "just turn around and take the next left, you'll know it when you see it."

Crona looked back and then over at Kaoru "uhh, t-thank you?" he called back with some confusion "w-why are you helping me?"

Kaoru shrugged again "I'm the kind brother" he answered turning the corner, leaving an incredibly confused Crona behind him.

Crona turned back to the hallway he was going down and then shrugged, that boy seemed nice enough, why would he lie? So Crona followed the simple directions Kaoru gave him and turned left then followed the long hallway until he stopped in front of a large, very large, illustrious door.

Crona looked up at the door with some awe _"__**this**__ is an extra room?"_ he thought noting how clean it looked, almost as if someone recently polished it _"I can understand dusting an empty room every now and then but keeping it polished too?"_ he thought about this with confusion as he pushed the door open. Immediately after opening the door there was a bright flash of light and Crona was met with the smell of flowers as dozens of red rose petals fell from the ceiling out of nowhere _"w-w-what is this? Where did all these petals from?"_ he thought squinting through the light as the door closed behind him.

When the light faded Crona found himself looking at five boys, and one of them he instantly recognized as Haruhi from his first day of class "hey, it's a boy" Honey cocked his head with an "O" look on his face.

Kyoya looked at Crona more closely as the boy looked around trying to understand what was happening; this place didn't look empty "Haruhi, this boy is part of your class is he not?"

Haruhi frowned a little before going "ohhh" with realization as she recognized Crona "oh yeah, that's Crona Gorgon, he's a foreign exchange student, I think he's been here about a week" she scratched the back of her head "he's a shy one though so I don't know much, the only person he ever seems to talk with is this Maka girl in the same class."

"Albarn?" Kyoya asked with an eyebrow raised.

Haruhi snapped her fingers "that's the one."

"Hmmm, well then, I think you and him would get along well seeing as how you're both honor students."

Tamaki seemed to smile at that "oooh, shy, keeps to himself, and is an honor student, do you think it could be another one of 'those'?" he asked looking down at Haruhi.

Haruhi shook her head "no, that Maka girl always refers to him as a he, and besides, he's wearing a boy's uniform anyway."

Crona didn't like this one bit "uhh, I-I'm sorry, b-but what are you all talking about? W-what do you mean by one of 'those'?" he asked with worry as Tamaki smiled again and then walked up to him.

"Ohhh, it's nothing you need to worry about ingenious little commoner" he smiled getting behind Crona and putting his hands on the back of the boy's shoulders earning a squeak "you know, I suppose I understand now why you're so shy around everyone, most boy's worry a lot about their sexuality."

"Huh?" Crona asked shakily as Haruhi groaned inwardly.

"_Oh lord, here we go again"_ she sighed getting a brief flash of Déjà-vu.

"So my young poor man what kind of men are you into?" Tamaki asked wrapping an arm around the boy's shoulder and leading the beyond reluctant Crona forward "do you like the strong silent types?" he gestured to Mori and Crona couldn't help but stare up at the big teen.

"H-he's so big" Crona didn't like this, he wanted his corner "I-I don't know how to deal with big people."

"How about the boy-Lolita type?" Tamaki gestured down to the tiny Honey who looked up at Crona with the same "O" expression.

Honey giggled then and pointed up at Crona "your hair is pink" he giggled "it's pink just like Usa-chan" he held up the small pink rabbit wrapped around his arm.

"H-h-how is he so tiny? I-I thought this was the highschool part of the academy" Crona was shaking now "I-I don't know how to handle tiny highschoolers."

"Well then what about the cool type" Tamaki gestured to Kyoya.

Kyoya pushed his glasses up and smiled at Crona "oh don't worry, I don't bite… much" he chuckled.

"H-h-he's scary" Crona was shaking even harder now.

Tamaki frowned down at Crona and put a hand on his own hip "my, you certainly are a picky homosexual aren't you?"

"H-homo what?" Crona asked with confusion.

_"He mean's gay"_ Ragnarok provided and Crona's eyes widened as he backed up.

"I-I think there's been some kind of mistake, I-I-I only came here to find a place to read-"

"Hey there sorry we're late!" the voices of two twins who were waiting for the right chance said loudly at once making Crona jump and trip back, hitting a certain podium holding a light blue vase.

Haruhi's eyes widened and she dove to catch it _"Oh no! Catch it- catch it- catch it- catch it!"_ she held her arms out in a hug like fashion, but the vase slipped just under her grasp at the last second and she flew over it and slid away as it shattered.

Crona looked down at the vase with horror but then noticed Haruhi's heartbroken look as she looked up at him "I am so, _so_, sorry" she said confusing him, why was this boy apologizing to him?

He wondered this for a little longer before he heard someone behind him "aww, that isn't good kid, the two of us were planning on auctioning that vase in an upcoming fair" Crona turned to see the Hitachiin twins behind him.

"Y… you" Crona looked at the brother's with confusion as they smiled and gave him a shared wave "t-there's two of you?"

Haruhi heard this and her look when from distraught to angry "wait a second, you met one of them?"

Crona looked between Haruhi down on her knees to the brothers standing behind him "I-I was looking for a quiet place to read a-and one of them told me this place was empty and that I should come here."

Haruhi got up and walked over to the twins "what did you two do!" she yelled as the twins grinned and snickered "what's your game here!"

Hikaru spoke up first "there's no game here Haruhi-"

"-The club hadn't opened up yet, so we thought it would be quiet for him" Kaoru finished with a snicker "and now here he his, breaking an expensive vase that clocked out at ten million Yen-" Crona's eyes widened at the number.

"-Looks like somebody is going to have to do something to pay us back" Hikaru finished snickering.

Haruhi glared at the two of them a little longer before turning to a confused Crona and she sighed "I'm sorry about this Crona, I know you haven't been here long so you haven't heard about these two yet" she pointed to the twins "that's Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin, Ouran's own personal devils" Crona's eyes widened again at their names "they love tricking and manipulating people as some kind of sick game."

"Oh come on Haruhi, you're being so mean" Hikaru pouted along with his brother.

"We were only trying to help him out" Kaoru added as the two wrapped an arm around each other's shoulders "we weren't the ones who made him break the vase."

It was then that Kyoya's eyes flashed from behind his glasses "as I recall it was you two coming in yelling that startled him back into the podium" he pushed his glasses up with his middle finger "and I did find it odd that you two put every vase in this room up for bidding."

The two brothers were silent a little longer before shrugging "we don't know what you're talking about" they said in unison.

"Of course not" Kyoya shook his head with a sigh "well mister Gorgon, I am truly sorry for this but we cannot just simply let you go with the costly damage you have caused" he looked over to Haruhi who was still glaring at the twins "and I would think it would be unfair to the other reluctant member of our group if we didn't give you the same debt they received through the same unfortunate accident" he looked over to Tamaki "right Tamaki?"

Tamaki began circling Crona looking the boy over, much to his discomfort "hmmm… well he does seem to have quite the handsome face."

"Oh yeah boss, we notice how the girls in class act around him" Kaoru grinned "they all swoon over him, talking about how cute and smart he his behind his back-" Crona blushed at this. Girls were saying things like that about him?

"-And he's very polite to everyone too" Hikaru finished "he's pretty shy and he tends to stutter a lot, but every time he does or says something that ends up with someone frowning or raising an eyebrow-"

"-He always apologizes to them, worrying he might have offended someone" Kaoru finished.

Tamaki smiled then and sat down in his chair "can you vouch for this Haruhi?"

Haruhi sighed and looked at Crona sadly "whenever someone gets him to talk he's exactly like the twins say."

Tamaki clapped his hands "well then! He's shy, cute, and polite to everyone, it looks like the Host Club has received a new type of member for the ladies, oh happy days!"

Crona looked between all of them with utter confusion "w-what are all of you talking about?"

Haruhi sighed and put a hand on his shoulder "you're going to have to do the same thing I've been trying to do and join our club and reach a quota of a thousand customer requests" Crona's eyes widened.

"A-a thousand what?"

"Basically you're going to have to talk to the girls of Ouran Academy who request you" Kyoya began, noting how pale Crona was getting "you will have to service them, make them happy so they can enjoy the rest of their day at the academy."

"I-I have to talk to girls?" Crona began shaking and he didn't even care about the uniform anymore he gripped his arm tighter then ever before "I-I-I can't do that, I-I don't know how to handle talking with girls! I-I don't even know the first thing about talking to them."

"You seem fine talking to Haru-Chan" Honey spoke up and then everyone froze except for the boy and Crona.

Crona frowned "huh?"

"Haruhi's a girl" Honey pointed up at Haruhi and Crona's eyes widened even more.

"HUH!" he gaped as his mind exploded trying to understand this.

"Honey… no one but the Host Club was supposed to know that" Haruhi whispered and Honey cocked his head.

"But Cro-Chan is part of the Host Club right?" Honey asked innocently, doing the same thing to Crona's name like he did with Haruhi's name "that's what you guys all said right?" Honey suddenly looked worried "oh no, did I mess up? Did I do something wrong?" he asked as tears began welling up in his eyes and he started sniffling.

Tamaki sighed and shook his head "no Honey-Sempai, you didn't do anything wrong" he got up and ruffled the young blonde's hair "Crona here is part of the Host Club now so I suppose he should know about its little secret" he said as Honey rubbed his eyes.

"So… s-so you're really a girl?" Crona asked and Haruhi nodded.

"Yeah, and look at how easily you talked to her" Hikaru grinned "I'm sure you can do it with the other hundreds of girls in Ouran."

Crona looked over at the twins with a pout but then he remembered what Blair told him a week ago and he sighed, might as well get this done "you two are the Hitachiin twins? T-that's what Haruhi said right?"

The twins frowned "yeah, why?" they asked in unison.

"I don't know if this means anything to you but Blair says hi" the twins' eyes widened.

They were in front of Crona in a second, smiling like idiots "you know Blair-Sempai?" Kaoru asked grabbing Crona's right arm.

"How is she? What's she up to?" Hikaru asked grabbing Crona's other arm.

Kyoya's eyes narrowed "wait a second you two, isn't Blair that magical cat you two know?" Crona's eyes widened yet again. He knew about Blair?

The two frowned when he said it "yeah… how do _you_ know her?" Hikaru asked looking at Crona more closely.

"Last time we checked she didn't do much with humans" Kaoru was eyeing Crona with the same suspicion.

"I… uhh, I-I'm a…" Crona stumbled for words, trying to say this without blowing his cover _"Ragnarok?"_

_"Hey don't look at me, you're the dumbass who fucked this one up"_ Ragnarok stated as unhelpful as ever.

The brothers eyed him with a little more suspicion "alright then, let's just check something and be sure" they said in unison before there was a poof of smoke.

When the smoke cleared Crona found himself staring at Hikaru and Kaoru, only now they were both wearing baggy, purple striped shirts with solid dark-purple sleeves, long dark purple pants and light pink gloves along with a yellow scarf around their necks. He was just about to speak up but then he noticed that they both now had purple cat ears coming out of their heads and his eyes widened even more when he saw their long purple, striped at the top tails.

The two leaned forward, closed their eyes and began sniffing the air around Crona "huh, yeah that's definitely Blair's scent alright" Hikaru nodded over at Kaoru.

"Yeah, and it doesn't smell like she was in trouble either, so this kid's either a friend, or at least someone she knows."

"You… you two are cats too?" Crona finally found his words.

The twins looked back up at him and shrugged "wellllll, yes and no" they shrugged in unison "our dad is human-" Hikaru began.

"-But mom's a magic cat, and before you ask, she and Blair weren't part of the same litter, but they were very close" Kaoru finished "and just so you know, we can't become total cats like they can, we can only become this little cross between them" he smiled then "though we have more powers then just transforming."

The two of them backed away "Wonderland-Wonderland, Cheshire-Cheshire, Wonderland-Wonderland, Cheshire-Cheshire" the two of them stepped to the side in opposite directions and to Crona it looked like the two were stepping around the corner of a wall as their bodies disappeared "pretty cool right?" he heard in both his ears, making him jump and look to see the brothers standing on either side of him "now, how about auntie Blair?" Hikaru asked as the brothers sidestepped again, disappearing.

"First off, how do you know her?" Kaoru asked sliding around one of the pillars in the room and disappearing again.

"She obviously isn't in danger, we could smell that much off of you" Hikaru said doing the same on a different pillar "so you must be a friend or an acquaintance, which is it?" he disappeared again.

"Or maybe you could be someone sent in to trick our auntie to try and take advantage of her, that a possibility too" Kaoru slid across another pillar.

"In that case, let us tell you that the Hitachiin's look after family, and we don't like it when someone messes with out loved ones" Hikaru slid across another pillar.

"So. We can do this the easy way or the hard way" they both said appearing next to Crona again, only now there were claws coming out of the tips of their gloves "it's your choice."

"I-I-I… I uhh, I can't-"

"You know, I believe I heard something from my cousin a little while back" Kyoya spoke up pushing his glasses up again "something about the accomplishments and blunders of a young acquaintance of hers" he smiled at Crona then "something about a young Meister named Maka Albarn."

Everyone looked at Kyoya before their gaze shifted back to Crona "a Meister?" Kaoru's eyes narrowed "from the DWMA?"

"I… I-I…" Crona looked at everyone and then looked down in defeat "I haven't… been all that honest with everyone at this academy" he took a deep breath and looked up again "my name is Crona Gorgon, a-and I'm a Meister from the DWMA."

…

And so Crona told the Host Club the basics of how he came to be a part of the academy, leaving out most of the bits about his mother's experiments and Ragnarok because he really didn't want to deal with the demon badmouthing anyone. When he finished explaining things up to the point where he was here now everyone's arms were crossed and they were nodding their heads.

"So you and your friend Maka are Meisters here because of these murders that have been happening" Kyoya nodded, confirming what he already knew.

"Yes… umm, d-do you think that you all could keep this a secret? Please? M-me and Maka can't let the Eggs know we're here" he then realized something and looked over at Kyoya "uhh… m-mister Kyoya? How… exactly… did you know about Maka?"

Kyoya smiled with a chuckle "my cousin is a rather high official in the DWMA; I believe you refer to her position as a Death-Scythe?"

Crona's eyes widened "your cousin is a Death-Scythe? Which one?"

"Her name is Azusa Yumi" Crona looked at Kyoya closer and realized that he and Miss Azusa did look similar; the glasses helped a lot "she and I talk every now and then through those mirrors the members of that academy use."

"So auntie Blair got beaten by that Maka girl and they're friends now huh?" Hikaru nodded along with his brother "yeah that sounds like something our auntie would do."

"It was never like her to hold a grudge" Kaoru smiled then "well, looks like everyone has their little secrets don't they?"

Haruhi looked at Crona's worried look and smiled "hey, don't worry, we won't tell anyone about it, I promise."

Crona smiled with relief, but then he looked to the side with some embarrassment "I uhh… don't suppose that this could take care of that debt?" he asked hopefully, but Kyoya's glasses flashed.

"No, the debt is nonnegotiable" he said professionally and Crona sighed, even though he was expecting that answer "as of right now, you are a part of the Ouran Host Club, I will fill out all of the necessary paperwork today and you will begin tomorrow, is that understood?" he gave Crona a death-look, one that was just daring Crona to disobey.

"Y-y-yes sir, I-I understand" Crona nodded quickly, not wanting to get on this boy's nerves. Something about Kyoya just seemed… dark to Crona, and he didn't know how to deal with people like that, they scared him.

"Excellent" Kyoya smiled then, going from sinister and threatening to warm and welcoming in a flash "I'm glad that everything has been sorted out" just after saying that the bell rang "well Crona, I advise you to finish your classes, go home, and get a good night's rest, you'll need it" he warned, walking away to go to his class.

And as the others all left doing the same, Crona sighed and yanked at his hair "ohhh, Maka is going to be so mad at me!"

…

After school ended and the two Meisters returned to their temporary home Crona sat down while Maka got to work cooking dinner. He sat their twiddling his thumbs for a while before deciding to try and talk "hey Maka?"

"Yeah?" she called back from chopping some carrots.

"Um… wow come Soul didn't come with on this mission? I-I mean he _is_ your weapon."

"Well you know how it is with Death-Scythes, things are always coming up that need to be taken care of with them" Maka answered.

"Oh… s-so how was school for you today?"

Maka frowned a little, Crona wasn't usually this chatty, she or one of her friends were the ones who usually started the conversations with him "fine, the work was just as easy as it always was, you should know that."

"Yeah… I guess so" Crona plucked at a piece of lint on his uniform's knee "h-hey Maka? Have you heard about a place called the Host Club?"

Maka stopped chopping and looked back at him "yeah, they're a group of guys who service women over in one of the abandoned music rooms… why?"

"I uhh… I kind of joined them."

Maka's eyes widened before she smiled sincerely "that's great! It's great seeing you taking an interest in a club like that, I'm sure a group of people like that could help boost your confidence."

"Yeah…" Crona's gaze shifted and Maka frowned.

"Is something wrong?" she looked at Crona worriedly.

Crona shifted around in his seat, not knowing how to deal with the thought of Maka getting angry with him, and then he shut his eyes tightly "I… I kind of blew our cover."

…

Crona sat on the same couch with Maka sitting on the opposite one across from him with a large mirror propped up next to her "… and that's what happened" Crona finished explaining.

"So you were tricked into coming to this club and you've become indebted to them, and one of them revealed that you were a part of the academy?" Death asked with his arms crossed and Crona winced.

"Yes sir" he looked down sadly "I-I'm sorry… I-I didn't mean for this to happen" he shook his head as tears welled in his eyes "I-I-I was only trying to keep my promise I made to Blair, I-I didn't something like this could happen, I-I didn't mean to blow out cover-"

"Whoa-whoa-whoa Crona, calm down" Crona looked up to see Death waving his hands "you said that this group, this Host Club, is the only people who know about you and Maka?" Crona nodded and he rubbed his eyes "well I don't see any problem with that."

Crona couldn't keep himself from frowning "you… y-you aren't mad?"

Death chuckled "mad? Why would I be mad? I know full well how intelligent and manipulative Azusa and her family can be, it's no surprise that this Kyoya fellow realized your and Maka's identities" he shrugged "and there's nothing to do about it anyway, and they already promised they wouldn't tell, so I don't see any problem, let's just forgive and forget."

Maka smiled and nodded "you don't need to worry Crona, you aren't in trouble, there was nothing you could have done."

Death nodded and chuckled more "and besides, this Host Club thing may be the well needed kick in the pants you need, your confidence has always been a little lacking" he waved at them from the mirror then "well then kids if that's the only news I guess I'll be heading off now, bye."

Crona still couldn't believe he wasn't in trouble, and then he looked up at Maka who was snickering "w-what's so funny?"

"I'm sorry; it's just that I knew something was up the moment you told me about that club" she shook her head and got up "I could just never see you joining a club willingly, especially not something like the Host Club" she chuckled a little more before sighing "it is a little too bad that you were forced to join, but still, I think this will be a good thing for you Crona, you should go with it."

"You think so?"

"Yeah" Maka smiled and then shrugged "who knows, maybe I'll even end up requesting you one of these days" she laughed not noticing the blush and hope-filled look in Crona's eyes.

_"Yeah… maybe."_

* * *

_**Alright, what do you guys think? Good? Should I stick with it? And please, tell me your opinions on my decision to make Kyoya and Azusa relatives, and for those of you who don't understand that, just put a picture of the two of them next to each other and tell me, tell me with all honesty that you couldn't see them as family. And also, who likes my Hitachiin magical Neko decision? Please give me your opinions.**_


	3. Crona's First Day

_**Ok, since there has been such a large influx of reviews for this story I will continue it, and just to tell you guys I have been working on this story it's just that what with school and all it gets hard trying to work on the next chapter when I finish my work. Don't want to fail now do I?**_

_**Oh well, anyways, I hope you all like this because I really don't want to disappoint the lot of you after all of this time.**_

_**Enjoy**_

* * *

Crona didn't like this; he didn't like this one bit.

He finished the last of his work so for the last fifteen minutes he nervously poked around with his pencil, anxiously waiting for when he had to go to Music-Room 3. Sure, he had felt a little giddy about the thought of having Maka wanting to have him as her Host one day, but he had to deal with all the other girls first, and he didn't know if he even _could_!

The girls here were nothing like the ones he knew back at the academy… well except for maybe Liz and Patty~ but he could barely handle those two! So how was he supposed to handle a _thousand_ of them? And then there was the problem of getting them to _like_ him too, he had no idea what to do or say so what was he supposed to do when he was forced to sit down at a table with them and entertain them? Not to mention the fact that he had the safety of every student in this school weighing on his and Maka's mission so that only made him feel worse about such a big distraction like this, what if something happened and he wasn't around to help because he was at this club failing miserably at what he was supposed to be doing there?

He dreaded over these things for the entirety of what was left of the class and his anxiety only increased when the bell rang and even more after Maka gave him a brief smile and wave as she walked "see you later Crona."

"Yeah, bye" she heard how his voice sounded somewhat more anxious than usual and glanced back at him.

She then stopped at the door, noticing how worried he looked, staring down at his desk "hey" she walked back over to give him a pat on the back "try to relax" he looked up at her and saw she was still smiling "loosen up, have some fun at the Host Club, you'll feel a lot better if you do" she then gave him another wave and left to go to her book club "see ya."

He waved back feeling somewhat reassured by her words, but a second after her departure he felt two hands on his shoulders making him forget her completely and feel much, _much_ worse "heyyyy Crona!" the twins chuckled behind him "so, are you ready for your first day on the job?" Kaoru and his brother leaned down to his ears while the teacher rolled their eyes and left.

Crona shook his head "n-not really, no" he looked up at them pleadingly "can I please, _please_ not do this? I-I really don't know how to deal with girls."

The twins just laughed "sorry Crona, but a debt's a dept" Hikaru shrugged "though we're really sorry if you don't like it, this job can get pretty tough."

"It can?" Crona looked back at him nervously.

"Yeah, you wouldn't believe how many boys have been dropped because they couldn't meet the cut" Hikaru nodded his head looking serious "and who knows what would happen if that was the case with you."

"Oh come on Hikaru, I'm sure he's going to do fine" Kaoru smiled mischievously behind Crona before wiping it off his face "and besides, I for one think he's going to love it, I mean, what's not to love about being surrounded by tons of girls watching everything you do for entertainment?" that only made Crona feel even more scared.

"I guess your right, but there are those certain times when they glomp the cute ones."

"And when they chew the newbies out for saying something wrong."

"Oh yeah! That reminds me!" Kaoru's smile brightened up with an amused chuckle "do you remember that one time when they-" he didn't get to finish but he and his brother both let go of Crona's shoulders, whining in pain.

"That's enough you two, you're freaking him out" Crona looked back and saw Haruhi holding the twins by their ears "I guess I have to make it clear to you guys to stop messing around with him."

"Ow-ow-ow! Let go Haruhi! Let Go!" they whined in unison and when she did they backed away clutching their sore ears "what the heck was that for?" Hikaru pouted along with his brother.

"For messing with Crona" they both raised an eyebrow, not seeing how that was reason enough "look, he's already freaked out enough about this place, we don't need you guys making it worse" Haruhi gave Crona a pat on the shoulder while glaring at the twins "now apologize."

"Apologize?" Kaoru frowned "for what?"

Haruhi stared at them with disbelief "what do you mean 'for what?' Look at him!" she gestured down to Crona.

The twins looked down at him and were surprised to see him visibly shaking from what they had said and they immediately felt guilty for it, which confused them. They had never felt like this before when they were messing with other people, but for some reason just seeing how scared he was made them feel horrible.

They looked at each other and began having one of their mental moments _"wow, we really scared him didn't we?"_ Hikaru's look saddened.

_"Yeah, I've never seen somewhat shake like that except for when Kyoya threatens them"_ Kaoru glanced in Crona direction and his own look saddened as well.

_"Do you feel like a total jerk like I do right now?"_

Kaoru nodded feeling guilty _"yeah, I think we messed up this time."_

"Well?" Haruhi's hands were on her hips while~ despite his fear~ Crona frowned towards the twins, not understanding the conversation that had just taken place.

They sighed, looking down "we're sorry."

"Sorry for what?" Haruhi crossed her arms.

"We're sorry for scaring you Crona."

Crona blinked then waved his hands "oh, d-don't worry about it! It's fine" he rubbed his arm, looking off to the side "you were just having fun, you didn't mean to."

Haruhi then smiled, relaxing "there, that's better."

The twins still had that guilty feeling inside and they desperately wanted to get rid of it "we really _are_ sorry" Hikaru said quickly.

"Yeah, we didn't think you'd feel this bad about it" Kaoru rubbed the back of his head, giving Crona an expertly feigned~ but still somewhat genuine~ apologetic look "most people just get a little jittery; we don't actually want to freak them out like this."

"Well now you know" Haruhi pointed to the two of them "don't mess with him."

Hikaru and Kaoru chuckled a bit at that "well… I guess we can always try to tone it down a notch" Hikaru chuckled.

"At least we know some of the things we shouldn't say to him now" Kaoru shared his brother's mischievous grin.

Haruhi's eyes narrowed "no, I just told you to quit-"

"Oh come on Haruhi" they chuckled, cutting her off "you can't keep these fun loving demons chained down."

She pouted at them but then she sighed, shaking her head "alright… alright whatever, fine, just hurry up and get over to the club" she gestured towards the door with a dismissing wave "I wanted to talk with Crona for a bit in private anyway, so get out" they both raised an eyebrow and she pointed towards the door again "now."

"But what if he doesn't show up at the club?" Hikaru crossed his arms "like you said, he was pretty freaked out."

"Yeah, and who knows what Kyoya would do to him if he didn't show" Kaoru mimicked his brother's action.

"I'll make sure he gets there" Haruhi rolled her eyes then pointed towards the door again "now go" when they stayed put she practically fumed, trying to think of a way to get rid of them. She thought about it for a little longer then smiled a 'Kyoya Smile' when she got it, making the twins shift around somewhat uncomfortably "leave now, or I'm going to show Crona how to tell the two of you apart" the twins took a step back, blanching. They had plans for him using that trick; they couldn't afford him figuring out how to tell them apart.

Their eyes slowly narrowed as they tried not to look worried, hoping she was bluffing "you wouldn't."

She crossed her arms "try me."

They stared each other down for about half a minute before the twins pouted again, seeing that she was entirely serious "you're no fun Haruhi" they slumped childishly and walked out the door.

Haruhi's face was covered in a smug smile and she was feeling very accomplished with herself as they left before she turned to Crona "I'm really sorry about all of that Crona, they were just trying to get a rise out of you is all, they didn't mean to scare you that much" she gave him a knowing smile as she wrapped an arm around his shoulder.

"Oh, I-It's no problem, really" he rolled his shoulders, somewhat uncomfortable with her touching him like they were good friends~ he barely knew her~ "b-but thank you for the help" though that didn't mean he wanted to be rude to her.

"No problem" she smiled softly.

He couldn't help but return the smile; even if his was a little shaky "s-so um… you said you wanted to talk about something?"

She nodded "yeah, I just wanted to tell you that I know a little bit about how you're feeling right now" she lightly tugged him along with her arm still wrapped over his shoulder "about your first day at the club I mean."

"You do?" Crona frowned a bit.

She nodded with a little laugh "hey, even I was a little nervous about my first time with the club, I mean I was horrified of what the Club would to me if I couldn't get those girls to like me" she looked around to make sure no one was around before leaning in _"and I'm a girl, so I should __**know**__ how to get on their good side"_ she straightened back up with another smile "but really, it's not that hard, it was actually pretty easy once I got the hang of it."

"Really?" for some odd reason he actually felt like he believed her "so how was it? Y-you're first day I mean?"

"Well the first thing that happened when I sat down with those girls was that they asked me why I decided to join because, well" she chuckled a little then rooted around in her vest before pulling out a picture "_this_ is how I used to look before the Host Club took me and turned me into their little toy" Crona took the picture and nearly dropped it when he saw what she used to look like wearing that baggy grey sweater and she laughed at his expression "yeah, you see I was a bit of a loaner in the school before joining the club; I didn't really care much for what most of these rich jerks thought about me so I mostly kept to myself."

"S-so what did you tell them? The girls?" he frowned again as she took the photo back "I don't see how you could explain wanting to join if you felt that way."

She thought about it and nodded as they turned the corner into the Music-Room's hall "yeah you're right, person like me, it doesn't make that much sense…" she pursed her lips as she thought about it more "well to answer your question all I did was just take some useful info from my life and pretty much BS a nice little sob-story for the girls that got them loving me" they stopped in front of the large doors and she gave him another pat on the back "seriously though Crona, it'll be alright, trust me" she smiled "all you've got to do is what I did and make a little story for yourself and you'll be fine, just make sure that you don't lie to much in it or people might get suspicious."

"You… you're sure that'll work?" it doesn't matter how many people said he would be okay, nothing and no one could make him any less nervous then he was.

"I don't see why not" she shrugged again "and besides, the girls already seem to be pretty interested in you."

He was a little surprised and very confused by that "they are? How come?"

"You've got this…" she waved her hand in between them searching for a word "this mysterious air around you, people want to figure out why you're the way you are, like why you seem so polite and caring yet so scared of everything at the same time, most of them are really curious about it" she looked at him a little closely but not so he noticed _"and they aren't the only ones"_ but then she smiled again and pushed the doors open "so hey, you've got that going for you, so just work on that curiosity and try and reel them in" she gave him another friendly on the back "and try to do like I said and don't worry about it, it'll only make you feel bad if you worry" she smiled before opening the doors.

It was only standing there in the doorway that he noticed something that confused him "um, H-Haruhi?"

"Hmm?" she looked back from the doors.

"Why… why are you being so helpful?"

She smiled "because Crona, unlike most of the people in this academy, you care about other people's feelings and you try your best to be kind to everyone" she gave him another pat on the shoulder "and I'd like to be friends with a person like that" she then looked away from his surprised face and made sure Kyoya wasn't looking in their direction before she leaned in _"oh and one more thing, I told a couple of my regulars about you and booked three of them for you"_ she noticed Kyoya glance in their direction and she said the last bit fast as she walked in_ "they're my first, and by far some of my most loyal customers, so just do what I said and you'll be fine!"_

She didn't even give him time to reply as she walked into the room towards a filled table, so all Crona could do was watch her leave, thanking her silently. He had to remember to thank her out-loud after this if all went well, but for now he took a deep calming breath as he looked into the room _"alright, let's just get this over with."_

And as he stepped into the fancy room he stifled a groan when he felt Ragnarok stir inside of him, but he wasn't surprised, the little monster was bound to do something sooner or later _"I really don't see what you're complaining about Crona, I think this is awesome"_ he then felt something slip through his vest and he almost jumped when he saw a small black tendril with a white X at the end barely sticking out of the neck of his shirt.

_"Ragnarok! What are you doing!"_ he whispered furiously, looking around to make sure no one could see him.

"_Ah, shut up, I'm just checking out the spread they got here"_ he heard the little demon's laugh_ "I mean come on, just take a look at these chicks, you've got some really hot numbers out here"_ he chuckled while Crona tried pushing the sound of him back as the tendril began looking at the girls _"huh… do her, do her, do her, ooh who hasn't done her? Do her…"_

_"What are you doing now?"_ Crona managed to keep the frown off his face.

_"Oh nothing, just thinking about which girls here would be nice to fu-"_ Crona immediately began drowning him out with loud mental noises while it took all his outside self's will not to blush. What was _wrong_ with Ragnarok! Why did he always have to say things like that!

_"Come on Ragnarok, get back inside now before you get us both caught"_ when the little demon didn't Crona pouted then brightened up with an idea_ "did you forget about Lord Death's deal?"_

That earned a tightening in his chest that made it a little hard to breath _"ok, now that's just low"_ the tendril slipped back inside while the tightness in the boy's chest remained _"other people may use food as a way to keep me under control, but don't you __**ever**__ think I'll just sit by and let you-"_

"Ah, Crona, there you are" a certain lord of all evil walked towards the boy carrying his favorite clipboard, cutting the little demon's rant short and Crona silently thanked him for the distraction "I was starting to think you weren't going to show up" Kyoya gave him a warm smile while his eyes told him _'but we both know what would happen if you didn't.'_

Crona shook his head quickly "no, I-I would never do that do that to all of you" while on the inside he was thinking _"I like living thank you very much."_

Kyoya's eyes remained the same as he studied Crona until the boy shifted around on his feet uncomfortably and look off to the side; but then the older teen's look softened with a chuckle "I know."

Crona looked up with confusion "huh?"

He chuckled again at his blank expression "you didn't seem like the type to go back on his word, but I already knew that" he smiled one of those smiles of his that made a cold shiver go up Crona's spine "and the twins aren't the only ones who enjoy playing with people every now and then" he then gestured to an open table as he looked back to his board "now, if you would."

"Y-yes sir."

"Sir?" oh he felt that he was going to like this boy "hmm, most of the boys who come in here don't treat me with such respect at first" he pushed his glasses up "kind of makes me glad they didn't make the cut."

Crona frowned "they didn't respect you? But… b-but you're in charge aren't you?"

Oh yes, he had a feeling that he was _definitely_ going to like this boy "no, it's a shared leadership with our 'illustrious' king" he gestured over at Tamaki who was in the middle of wooing a few girls "though I'm glad to see that respect isn't an issue with you, you're off to a good start" he smiled back at Crona and the boy was a little surprised that he didn't get a chill while the older teen went back to looking at his board "huh… well isn't this surprising? It appears you already have three customers booked for you… interesting."

"Is it?" Crona tried not to show he knew about them already, he had no idea what Kyoya would do if he found out he had gotten help and he really didn't want to find out.

Kyoya gave him a curious glance but then dropped it "yes, it usually takes a little while for a few of the girls to take interest and show up, yet here you are, with three off the bat" he raised an eyebrow at his board "hmm, well that's odd, these three were set to go with Haruhi today, but then they switched to you… how very interesting" he glanced in a busy Haruhi's direction with an unnoticeably amused smile "oh well, fortune has chosen to shine upon you today Mister Gorgon" he tapped an open chair at the table with his pencil "do try not to mess it up."

Crona nodded sitting down at the table "y-yes sir, I-I'll try."

Kyoya chuckled a bit; he always loved it when people treated him with that fearful respect, especially when it was right from the start "excellent, your customers will be here momentarily."

"Right… great" Crona rubbed his arm as his anxiety returned.

Kyoya gave him a passing glance then shook his head as he walked away, a hidden smile on his face as he scribbled away on his board _"he'll do fine."_

And so Crona sat there, waiting for the girls to show up, dreading that moment and wondering what they would ask him first. What would he do if Haruhi was wrong? What if the girls didn't ask him what she said they would? What if they don't like him?

"Crona Gorgon?" he looked up and found himself looking at three girls, one with short light tan hair, a red head ~in an odd design to where it almost looked like she had two tiny horns~ and one with long black hair, and all of them were smiling at him.

"Oh, y-yes, h-hello there" he shifted around in his seat a little uncomfortably as the girls sat down across from him. They were then silent for a while and Crona rubbed the back of his head as one of the girls coughed "I… I-I-I'm sorry if I'm boring you already, I-its just that I've never done this before and-" he stopped when the girls giggled.

The red head smiled again "its fine, Haruhi already told us about you."

"Really?"

Black hair smiled along with her friend "yes, she told us about how shy you are when it comes to girls."

He rubbed the back of his head again completely unaware of a certain King watching him from afar "y-yeah, I'm sorry, I-I've always had trouble dealing with girls" he thought of something and then gave them a shaky smile "… e-especially pretty ones."

The girls were somewhat surprised by that and couldn't hold back their blushes "oh, well, t-that's-" tan hair stopped herself from stuttering half way through "thank you for that."

And meanwhile Tamaki rested his chin on the back of his couch as he watched "I don't get it… how's he doing so well already?" he mumbled to himself then glanced at the twins and their customers "they said that he wasn't good with girls, yet he already has them blushing and one even stuttering for him… how weird."

"Yes, he does seem to be doing well for a beginner, doesn't he?" Kyoya held back a grin at the sight of Tamaki nearly falling off the couch in surprise "tell me Tamaki, why is it that you always feel the need to watch naturals like Haruhi" he pushed his glasses up "you always end up neglecting your own guests by doing it."

Tamaki sat up quickly and brushed his hair back "nonsense, is it so wrong for a benevolent king such as myself to worry about his subjects?" he leaned down to one of the girls "I'm sure you can all understand my worry about such a shy 4boy like mister Gorgon struggling with his first day with us" he brushed a finger up her neck and stopped it at her chin "I only wish for what's best for him."

The girl below him was blushing madly as another held back a squeal "oh Tamaki, you're so kind!" Tamaki smiled to himself and gave Kyoya a sideways glance and the dark-haired boy shook his head, walking away.

And back at the table Crona was poking at the fine-china on the table as the girls recovered from his earlier comment "so, umm…" the redhead twirled her finger through a few strands of her hair "what… what exactly brought you to the Host Club Crona?"

The tan-haired girl nodded "yes, we were all wondering about that actually, seeing as how you're always so afraid all the time around the school" the other two looked at her with sudden irritation and she took on a more embarrassed look when she realized what she had said "no offense to you!" she added quickly, waving her hands a bit "it's just… you always seem so frightened all the time… so joining something like the Host Club…"

The three watched as Crona smiled sadly. Well, hopefully the little lie he had been cooking up after he sat down here would satisfy them "none taken… and don't worry about it, you're right… I do get afraid easily" he looked over at Tamaki and the other hosts and thankfully for the king the boy didn't notice him looking "and that's why I wanted to join the Club."

The black-haired girl frowned "what do you mean?"

He rubbed the back of his head "back at my old school, I was… treated pretty badly by many of the students there… I… I-I never really knew how to deal with other people, and so those students would make fun of me for it, punching me in the halls tripping me, and taunting me all the time, asking if I 'knew how to deal with this and that'" he took on a bitter look at this true memory "and I was always too afraid to do or say anything about it, I-I was too afraid that they would just get worse when they hurt me, or that they would spread rumors about me and make everyone else in the school hate or pick on me" his look saddened and he didn't even noticed the tiny tears that pricked his eyes at the genuine memory of all the abuse "and they'd done it all before so I knew it would eventually happen if I fought back" he looked down at the tablecloth as Tamaki and a few other girls and hosts leaned in to listen to the conversation; their faces contorting with sadness.

"And so, o-one day after some of them got really bad, I decided that wanted to get out" he shook his head finally noticing the tears and he wiped at his eyes, holding back a sniffle, why would he cry about this. He felt so stupid now, he just about to start _lying_ to these girls, and here he was crying about his old problems. He was such a bad person "I-I-I promised myself that I would get out of that school, a-and so I tried harder in my classes to bring my scores to as close to perfect as they could be so that maybe a new, better school would notice me" he forced a genuine looking smile out "and eventually a few people here noticed me, a-and I received an offer to join" he chuckled sadly as the girls tried understanding how anyone could bully a sweet boy like him "and when my friend Maka heard about what I was doing she did the exact same thing and soon got the same offer."

"I had wondered what it was about her and you" Crona didn't notice the red-head's sniffle so he didn't ask anything as she spoke "you two seem close."

He nodded with another sad smile "she's a good friend" he faked a shaky breath and rubbed his eyes with the back of his wrist, looking like he was wiping away more tears "a-and so… we went to that school again as the new year started and we waited for everything to be taken care of so we could come here" he scowled a bit and was surprised by how genuine it felt as he thought about the people he'd have to be going back to after this mission was over "I-I had to put up with those same people messing with me, but I forced myself to ignore them, because I knew things would get better" he smiled at the girls "a-and when I got here and everyone was so nice, and polite to me and Maka I felt so happy… but…" his face fell as the truth began settling back into the lie "I'm still afraid of what people think about me, even here when I'm so far away from the bullies I left behind" he looked off to the side "I'm so afraid that… that all of you are judging me and talking about me behind my back, even if you just do it a little bit without realizing it" he glanced back at the hosts with true yearning because this next part was mostly true "and after I saw how the members of this club acted, always so confident and happy and surrounded by friends… I wanted to join them at once, and learn how they did it, how they were able to live as good as they did… because I want to learn how to deal with people better, so that they'll accept me" he rolled his shoulders a bit after he finished, actually feeling embarrassed now and he breathed out "I… I-I'm sorry" he shook his head again "j-just listen to me, I sound so stupid right now."

When he looked back up at the girls however he saw them all shaking their head and noticed that one of them was actually crying silently and his eyes widened when he saw that "no, no, don't be sorry Crona" the tan-haired girl smiled at him sadly "that goal is completely understandable, I've never heard of such a pure goal from someone before."

The red-head nodded with her, sniffling a bit "that was… that was a beautiful story Crona" she brushed away a tear.

He looked at her and they could all see the guilt in his eyes, but just as he was about to apologize to her for making her cry he felt someone's arms wrap around him. He was lifted up from the chair and he bit back his surprised yelp when he heard someone begin crying hysterically "oh, Crona! That story was so _beautiful_!" he glanced back to see Tamaki sobbing as he held the pink-haired boy closely "such a wonderful tale of a young boy's determination, and craving for the acceptance of others!" Tamaki looked back at the other hosts, still crying "have you ever heard anything sweeter, anything more heart-warming then a tale like that?"

Crona turned to see that many of the girls in the room were staring at him and many of them were crying and then he turned back to the table to see his three customers smiling at him as two more sets of arms came at him from his sides "that story was so _sad_!" he heard two new voices cry out in unison and turned his head to see the twins hugging his sides "how could anyone pick on someone like you?" Kouru whined in his arm and Crona managed to keep his frown off his face.

If he remembered right the twins were just messing with him a while ago. And after thinking about that and looking around at the smiling tear stained faces of some of the girls around him he realized something. The twins and Tamaki were playing right now. He looked down at them as they were crying and he noticed something about the tears, and how they seemed to be coming out quite a little bit forced and he realized that they were faking it. This was a way to work with the customers wasn't it? This was a way to play with those feelings of theirs and make them feel happy that a poor sad boy like Crona was being comforted by a few kind hearted friends.

He smiled sheepishly as the boys cried, holding him tightly and squirmed a little "g-guys, I-it's ok, l-like I said before, I wanted to join this place so badly" they set him down and wiped at their eyes and he smiled at them with a very convincing sincere look. He decided he'd play along with them for now, he thought about it and honestly liked the thought that he was making these girls feel happy, even if it was all a play on his and the other boy's parts "so all of you have already helped me by letting me join" he looked off to the side and didn't really need to try hard to blush, he still didn't know how to deal with being the center of attention "so… thank you."

"Think nothing of it" Crona turned to see Kyoya walk over and he could of swore he saw the boy's eyes flash as he grinned "you're part of the Club now, part of the family, and that's all you need to think about now" he put his hand on Crona's shoulder "so try to forget about all of those _dreadful_ memories from that old school."

Crona nodded and fiddled with his hands feeling embarrassed about all the girls staring at him "t-thank you"

Kyoya nodded then turned to the others girls as they wiped at their eyes "well ladies, how about we all try to forget about this sad tale of Crona's" he smiled at them as he began pushing Tamaki back over to his table "for our job is to make you all happy, and so we shall do just that" he smiled down at Tamaki's customers and they smiled right back.

Crona watched with amazement as Kyoya singlehandedly pulled everyone back together and soon all of the girls were smiling again as their hosts took control, however every now and then one of the girls would glance over at him and offer him a sympathetic smile. Crona had to admit: Kyoya was good at what he did, though he wasn't at all surprised by this. Any one related to someone as smart and organized as Miss Azusa had to be good at whatever they did, it seemed impossible that they couldn't be.

He finally looked back to the girls and he was actually feeling quite guilty about how long he had been talking and then standing there for so long, leaving them alone "I um… I-I'm sorry about that" he looked down at the table remorsefully "I was sitting here talking all about my problems and then practically ignored you, I-I mean I've barely let you talk-" the black-haired girl put her hand over his and he looked up at her.

She smiled at him "don't think anything of it" she patted his hand and as he blushed at the touch her smile grew before she backed up to the other girls who were also smiling at him.

"And besides, we still have plenty of time to talk about us" the tan-haired girl "so you don't have to worry about that" she giggled at him then "but thank you for caring about us, it's very sweet."

"Adorable even" the red-head added. He was happy that she wasn't crying anymore, but the comments and actions of the girls were getting to him, he was already blushing a deep red.

"Oh, w-well I uhh, I-I, thank you but…" oh dear, he was stuttering horribly now "uh, s-s-so what umm… what do you want to talk about?"

The black-haired girl giggled at his reaction "how about what kind of boys we like…" she smiled at him sweetly "I for one like polite and quiet young men."

The other girls nodded as Crona lowered his head eyeing the nearest corner as the red-head nodded "I agree; boys like that always seem cute to me."

Crona's face was burning as Kyoya glanced over at them again and the dark-haired teen smirked seeing how Crona was acting as the girls began playing with him, complementing him and getting him to blush deeper and deeper _"oh yes, he's going to fit in perfectly with us here"_ he wrote a mental note reminding himself to have a talk with Crona afterschool, that boy required some congratulations for the performance he had just put on moments ago.

…

"Hey Cro-Chan!" Crona and Maka stopped and turned to see the small blonde form of Honey bouncing towards them, closely followed by the cool and calm Mori. Honey hopped up and latched on to Crona's arm, making the boy stumble and nearly fall from the extra weight.

Crona soon recovered from the sudden tackle and he sputtered, trying to steady himself "H-Honey? D-d-do you need something?" the boy simply dangled down on Crona's arm, swinging and giggling.

Crona was about to ask again but then Mori cleared his throat "Kyoya wants to speak with you" was all he said.

Crona frowned "h-he does?"

Honey nodded down below him "yeah! Kyoya Senpai looked really happy when he asked for you" his eyes shined as he smiled up at Crona "he was actually _smiling_!"

Maka eyed them all for a bit before patting Crona's back with a smile "it's alright Crona, you can go with them, I'll wait at the gate for you" she waved at him and then turned to leave "go on, you don't want to keep your new friends waiting do you?" he noted how happy she sounded when she said the word friends. Was she proud of him? He'd gotten used to telling what she was thinking just from the way she talked, but he was never sure until she confirmed it later, so he'd have to ask then.

Crona eyed her a bit sadly as she left, not wanting her to go but he turned back to the others when Honey tugged his arm "come on Cro-Chan, you heard her!" he tugged him again and he was surprised by the strength in the small boy's arms as he was practically dragged by him "and besides, I don't think you wanna leave that girl waiting at the gate for too long, she looks really _pretty_!"

Crona blushed but nodded "y-yeah, we should hurry."

So the three of them moved through the mostly empty halls; every now and then passing by a student moving quickly to catch up with their friends. They reached the music room within five minutes and once through Crona frowned to see the other hosts talking and when he and the others stepped in they all smiled and grinned at him.

Tamaki stepped forward with his arms outstretched, with a big smile on his face "ah, the man of the hour is finally here! Excellent" he walked over to Crona and wrapped an arm around his shoulder "we're all very sorry for keeping you back here longer then you have to be, but we all simply wanted to congratulate you for that wondrous performance you pulled off earlier with the girls."

Crona frowned "what do you mean?"

"Oh please, don't be so modest mister Gorgon" Kyoya chuckled and put his hand on his shoulder "the way that you played into Tamaki's and the twin's little performance was good enough, but that story of yours was an amazing touch" he then glanced at Haruhi who looked up at the top left corner of the room, trying not to look at him "true, the idea for a story was given to you by someone else, but to come up with such a gripping and convincing tale so quickly is something to be quite proud of."

Crona rubbed the back of his head feeling embarrassed at the praise "how… how did you know it was a lie?"

Kyoya chuckled again "I look into everyone that joins our Club, whether they join willingly or otherwise" he looked at Crona like he was appreciating a piece of art, but then he pushed his glasses up making them light up, blocking his eyes from view as he breathed out "I have learned much about your past" Crona managed to keep himself from tensing at that but Kyoya raised a hand "I will not speak openly about it, only you have that right, so you have no need to worry" he smiled again but then Haruhi snorted.

"Wait a minute, since when do you care about a person's rights?" she raised an eyebrow, even saying it sounded weird.

Kyoya smirked at her and then touched his chest "Haruhi, when have I ever revealed anything about your past?"

"How about the way I looked back at my old school?"

Kyoya raised an eyebrow this time "oh, my apologies, I hadn't realized that that information was so very personal too you" he let the sarcasm drip from his voice "honestly Haruhi, I only reveal information that wouldn't damage the credibility of a colleague" he shrugged then "but if you like I can change that, maybe explain to all the members here how your cup-size has remained an-"

"OK-OK-OK!" Haruhi waved her hands irritably as Crona's face burned and Tamaki was also a light shade of pink "you're a real jerk you know that?"

Kyoya bowed "I try my best" he then turned back to Crona "now, before I was so rudely interrupted" he cast a glance at Haruhi who crossed her arms and stuck her tongue out "I was simply going to explain how I knew where that story of yours shifted between fiction and truth" he nodded again, looking with that appreciative look again "the bullying and rumors, those were true, the wanting to switch schools, obviously false, the friendship with miss Albarn… _very_ true" he smirked as Crona shifted around on his feet and Kyoya then waved his hand "and on and on" he patted Crona's shoulder again "all in all it was a very convincing story, just as I said."

"Yeah, you're a natural at this" Kaoru smiled and patted his arm.

"I know, you went right with that act of ours and made it so convincing for those girls" Hikaru laughed and then smirked "it was fun wasn't it?"

Crona frowned again "fun?"

Hikaru nodded "yeah, it gives you a bit of a thrill, the thought that at any moment one of the girls could realize you were lying and ask about it" he shivered a bit "it's always so much fun when we act for them."

Crona looked at the twin as he smiled and eventually after Crona shifted around before smirking a small smile "I… I have to admit it did feel… fun" he shivered a little too as the twins laughed "I-I've never really put on a performance before, b-but when I was telling that story to those girls I felt so… _naughty_" he giggled a little and then poked at the floor with his shoe "though… it did feel good knowing that seeing me like that made those girls happy."

Tamaki clapped his hands and Crona jumped "exactly!" he gripped Crona's shoulders and smiled into his face "that right there is the exact purpose of the Ouran Host Club!"

"W-what?" what was Tamaki suddenly yelling about?

Tamaki gestured to himself and the other Hosts "the purpose of the Club is to entertain the young ladies that attend this Academy" he tapped Crona's chest "we make them happy, and we play into each of their fantasies" he shrugged then "true, we may bend the truth and act out playing into the feeling of the girls, but we make them so very happy by doing it" he grabbed Crona's shoulders again and gave him a shake "do you understand Crona? do you understand what a pure and noble goal we-" he let go of Crona and began whining as Haruhi pulled his back by the ear.

"Tamaki, what did I tell you earlier about Crona? I asked you to try and hold yourself back" she pulled the taller boy down and began whispering furiously to him as Crona and the others watched.

The twins laughed as Crona shook, looking back at Tamaki as Haruhi let go and Kaoru patted Crona's back "oh yeah, we just have to work on that confidence of yours and we'll have you playing those girls like violins."

Once Haruhi finished chewing him out Tamaki then walked over and nodded when he heard what the twin had said, and everyone stared at his ear which was now a deep dark red "yes, we'll definitely have to do that, help you with your confidence issue I mean, you'll need plenty of confidence to work with these women, they can be bloodthirsty vixens" he smiled when Crona tensed and then tapped him in his chest "oh but don't worry about it my naughty little commoner" he chuckled "you are going to be an excellent addition to this club" he then turned to the others "alright then gentlemen, let's let our newest member return home, we'll let him think about his professionally executed act today and think up how to woo the ladies tomorrow" he chuckled at him as he blushed and then he patted the twins on the back.

And as they nodded and left Haruhi then walked over and smiled at Crona "nice job out there Crona! I knew that you could do it!" she gently punched his shoulder "you were great today, I mean really, that story you told the girls nearly made _me_ tear up" she put her arm around his shoulder and then pulled him towards the door "I knew you would be good at this, I just knew it."

Crona smiled sheepishly and she gave him a friendly shake "t… t-thank you for your help" his smile became more sincere "I-I-I probably wouldn't have any idea what to do if it wasn't for you."

Her smile matched his and she gave him another friendly shake "no problem, that's what friends do" they stepped into the main hall and were getting close to the exit "but really, I'm pretty sure you would have come up with something even if I didn't say anything" she chuckled "you're a smart kid."

Crona shifted around at the praise, he still wasn't used to so many people being this nice to him "I-I think you're giving me too much credit-"

She shook her head as they pushed the door open "no way, you're totally smart Crona" she tapped his chest "you've got top marks in all your classes" she looked around then leaned in _"and you don't even __**have**__ to do them, you and your friend __**choose**__ too"_ she backed up again as they closed in on the gate "so don't ever think something like that, you're a smart guy, no doubt about it."

He looked down as they stepped out of the gate "thank you" he looked up at her as Maka took notice of them "a-and thank you for all your help at the club too" he added quickly and Haruhi just nodded and then nodded at Maka with a smile as she passed her to go home.

Maka glanced back at her and then smiled at Crona "so, what did they want to talk about?"

"They just… wanted to congratulate me on today" he rubbed his arm when she looked at him curiously "a-apparently I did good for a beginner, though I didn't really feel like I did" he honestly _didn't_, he just felt overwhelmed by it all… though that didn't mean it wasn't a little fun.

Maka's smile softened and she patted his back as they turned to go to their house "oh come on Crona, I heard what some of the other girls were saying about you, not to mention the fact that some of them even went and _hugged_ me, saying what a good friend I am to you" she added with a chuckle as Crona glanced at her with surprise "no lie, whatever you said to them had gotten them really worked up, I had around fifteen or sixteen girls hug me or smile at me telling me what a good person I am for sticking with you coming here" she now eyed him even more curiously "what did you tell them to get them all so emotional?"

Crona rubbed his arm more, looking off to the side sheepishly with a mad blush on his face from Maka's complements to his story "I-I'll tell you when we get home, I-I don't want anyone else questioning it if we pass them while talking about it."

Maka nodded and patted his back with a smirk "well look at you, being all smart about this."

Crona lowered his head "c-come on, t-t-that should be common sense for a mission…"

But Maka wouldn't hear anything of that and spent the entirety of their walk complementing Crona on how he had been doing at the school lately. It was by far the most embarrassing walk he had ever been on before… though it was also the happiest one too.

_"Maybe this thing with the club isn't so bad" _he thought with a small smile as Maka complimented him again _"if it's already helping me spend more time with Maka, then it can't be all that bad can it?"_

_"Yeah, and who knows, maybe those guys can help you finally get in that damn cow's pants"_ Ragnarok popped up and Crona jumped with a squeak at his comment, earning a frown from Maka before she shrugged and went back to talking about how happy she was for him and this stuff he was going to be doing with the Club.

Crona shook himself trying to wipe Ragnarok's comment from his memory but he frowned when he thought about it. The Hosts were masters when it came to women, they make dozens happy daily and Maka had already said that she might order him as a Host if she ever had time between her tutoring sessions with the other students… so what if Ragnarok was right? What if the Hosts really could help him with Maka?

He'd have to think about this. He didn't want to back out later and look like a total idiot, and if Maka found out he'd be terrified of what her reaction would be. Yeah, he'd have to think about this, take a few days to know for sure… maybe a couple weeks if the mission lasted long enough… maybe even a month or so… yeah…

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_**Alright everybody! This story is back in business!**_

_** Sooo… I don't really have anything else to explain about this… except that I'm going to be working exclusively on this story from now on.**_

_** Yeah… see ya!**_


	4. New Developements

_**Ok guys, I apologize on this taking so long. It's just that the creative flow in my mind was trickling down the streams of my other stories for a while, but it's finally back on track with this one. I'll be trying to update and finish this story a bit faster now to make up for the wait.**_

_** I hope you enjoy and that you think it was worth the wait.**_

* * *

Last night had been another blank for Crona and Maka; she once again announced that she couldn't feel any sign of the Eggs and when the next day came they found that there was nothing about a new murder in the news; it seemed that the eggs were taking a break. Crona would be lying if he said he didn't feel somewhat relieved by this. Not only for the fact that no one else had died, but also because for some reason the thought that they would have to stay in this city and keep going to the academy for a while longer appealed to Crona very much, which confused him. This was a mission, nothing more nothing less, so he wondered why he felt this way about the knowledge that the Eggs had gone somewhere. Did it have something to do with what he thought about last night? It seemed odd if it did since he hadn't decided if he'd go through with the plan to get the hosts to help him with Maka.

And he kept wondering about that as he woke up the next day. It was only when he and Maka reached the gate of the Academy that he turned his thoughts to something else. His classes in the morning all went well ~as expected~ and so he focused his mind on what could possibly be happening in the club today. Would he have the same girls as yesterday? If so what would they talk about this time? And if he got someone new then could he deal with them? He really hoped that they liked him, his thoughts shifting to the debt he had, and he wondered about that with a small level of worry as he pushed the door open.

Now, Crona had wondered at one point in his life ~after seeing how crazy normal people could really be *cough Black-Star cough*~ what would happen if he ever met a group so insane that they would actually change and decorate their place of work so _extensively_ that it looked like an entirely different location. As it turns out, he had met that group two days ago.

He had opened the door to the music room expecting to find the hosts with their customers and learn a bit more about running with the club, but right as he entered he froze on the first step inside and gazed around the room. One thing went through his mind as he stared and that thought was: _"what in the world happened in here?"_

There were large silk tapestries around the empty window sills all with the crest of the academy on them; the walls were an entirely different design, its usual white and grey changed into tan and red, and they looked almost stony with a few chips here and there all throughout the room. The floor had a long red carpet leading all the way to the illustrious throne in the middle of the changed room full of stone tables with the customers sitting around them, talking with their hosts. He noticed that the Hosts were wearing what looking like ancient Arabian clothing or something like that. They had baggy tops and pants and sashes of varying designs and pointed shoes; Tamaki had some kind of big crown or hat or whatever that was on his head, and… did… did Mori have a scimitar on his belt?

Crona shook himself then pinched his arm, because if he didn't know better he would have thought he had walked into some kind of ancient palace, but the sting in his arm told him otherwise. After he assured himself that he wasn't dreaming he felt someone tap his shoulder and turned to see Haruhi at his side with another knowing smile. He noted that she was the only one wearing her normal clothing.

"Yeah, you aren't dreaming Crona, this is all real" she gestured to the room and she chuckled at the look on his face "and don't worry, I was freaked out the first time they changed it up too, believe me" she shook her head and look over at Tamaki like he was a nut-job "my first time seeing it was when they changed this place into some huge jungle, they had real living trees, birds and snakes and all kinds of other things that time."

"W… w-why do they do this to the room?" he put his hand on a free table nearby and found that it really was made of carved stone, full of small chips in the rock and all kinds of things on top of it "this must all cost a lot of money right?" he looked back up at her and she chuckled.

"Yeah, when they choose to do this they go all out for the girls" she looked around and then focused on the Twins ~who were dressed as fire-eaters~ as they blew gouts of flame towards the stone roof from their torches earning claps and squeals from the girls before they began juggling with them "it gives the ladies a taste of the exotic, at least that's what Tamaki's always going on about."

"But how do they afford it all?" Crona frowned looking around to the clothes the hosts were wearing "t-the school can't pay for it can they?" just how much money did this place have?

She shook her head "no, no they can't do anything like that" she put her hand into her vest and pulled out what looked like a brochure "Kyoya over there sells these things to the girls ~and occasionally the guys~ and they buy so many of them that we can afford all kinds of things" she handed the brochure over.

Crona looked down at the brochure and then jumped with a squeak to see a picture of the Twins half naked "w-w-what _is_ this?" he looked up at her with shock. And then a side thought, why did _she_ have one?

Haruhi chuckled again "exactly what it looks like" she shrugged again with a smile "like I said, the ladies are crazy for these things" she took the brochure back and then turned to leave "but really Crona, this isn't bad, so try enjoying yourself."

But Crona felt the need to ask something else and nervously tapped her shoulder, stopping her "um… Haruhi?" she turned back to him "w-why um, why aren't you wearing any of the clothes like the hosts?"

She took on a pout and tapped on the ground with her shoe "those clothes feel so itchy to me, the other guys say that don't know what I'm talking about but come on, I know how that stuff felt on me" she shook her head and turned to walk again "honestly, one of the only cool outfit choices these rich jerks pick and I can't even wear them, how is that fair?" she grumbled going to sit down at a table where a couple girls quickly showed up.

"Ah yes, how unfortunate that Haruhi couldn't wear these clothes, Tamaki had something picked out for him and everything" Crona turned to see Kyoya in what looked like a long red silk robe "a real shame that."

Crona quickly bowed his head "h-hello mister Kyoya."

"And a good day to you Mister Gorgon" Kyoya smiled at him and then looked around the room "so, what's your opinion on our changes for the day?"

Crona glanced around and shifted on his feet a bit, he didn't know how to deal with change all that well "it's… I-it's definitely something."

Kyoya nodded "well, then I hope you also enjoy our costume choices" he glanced over at Haruhi with a smirk "and I also hope that you wont have much trouble with them if they end up being as 'itchy' as Haruhi claims" he then gestured over to a door off to the side of the room "shall we?"

Crona nodded and reluctantly followed, already worrying about what kind of costumes they had and that they might not have anything good left. He might look like an idiot in these clothes, and he knew he couldn't handle it if anyone here laughed at him. To his total surprise ~but also relief~ Kyoya led him into what turned out to be a giant walk-in closet or something, and it was filled to the brim with rows upon rows of assorted costumes, uncountable dozens in designs and themes.

Crona looked around the room awestruck as Kyoya took hold of a handle and pulled out one of the rows, revealing about a dozen different Arabian costumes hanging across it "you may wear any costume you deem fit, though if I may suggest, try picking the one that most describes you the best" when Crona turned to him with a frown Kyoya gestured to himself "most of the time we choose a costume that describes us, Tamaki being the King, myself as the Royal Adviser, the Twins as a couple of daredevil Fire-Eaters, and Mori and Honey as two Royal Guards" he then looked over to the row and then pointed to one of the outfits "and in all honesty, I believe this one describes you the most."

Crona moved up to it and looked it up and down, it didn't look like anything special. It was pretty much what the Twins were wearing, a couple baggy clothes only these ones had a ruff look to them, with the tears and rips in the pant legs, but another thing he noticed was the curved knife on the belt. Now that he was getting a closer look at it, this kind of looked like a robber costume. Crona looked over at Kyoya with a frown again "h-how come you think this describes me?"

"Because the children who used to dress like this lived almost exactly as you did" he lightly tapped Crona in the chest "they were abused and cast aside by most of society, they were taken advantage of by evil people in the world, and they were at times forced to do terrible things" he noted Crona's saddening look and he then pressed his glasses up turning away "however… one thing that was rare about some of these children was that they were at times taken in by well off individuals with soft hearts" he glanced back at Crona with a small smile "sounds almost like an acquaintance of mine and his caring teachers made foster parents" and with that he walked out of the large closet and closed the door behind him "don't take too long changing."

Crona looked at the door after Kyoya had left and ever so slowly, a soft smile touched his lips as he thought about Miss Marie and Professor Stein. He had just turned back to the costume and was pulling it down when he heard a groan _"oh god! Gag me with a spoon! Why do you have to go and think about sappy crap like that, you know I freakin' hate it!"_

Crona sighed "come on Ragnarok, can you please be nice for a little bit?"

_"Pfft! Hell no! What kind of stupid question is that?"_

The boy shook his head, unbuttoning his vest as Ragnarok slithered back into him _"why couldn't I get a nicer person put into my body?"_ he pouted and in answer he earned a tightening in his chest that caused him to wince at the sharp pain.

_"I heard that"_ he felt Ragnarok jab his insides _"jackass…"_

Another sigh passed Crona's lips while he removed the last of his uniform but soon he was smiling again when he thought back to Marie and Stein. Kyoya really did look into his life if he knew about Marie and Stein becoming Crona's new parents, most of the people in the academy still didn't know about that yet.

He still had that cheerful smile on his face when he left the walk-in closet and when he sat down at his table the customers who showed up a few minutes later noticed it. One of them was from yesterday ~the tan-haired girl~ but the other two were new "hello there Crona, you're looking happy today" the tan-haired girl smiled at him.

He twitched, just now realizing he was still smiling "oh" he forced it off his face immediately "I-I'm sorry, I-"

"Sorry?" one of the new girls frowned "why would you be sorry about being happy?"

"Yeah, you look nice when you smile, you shouldn't be sorry about that" the other agreed with a matching frown.

"Oh… sorry, f-force of habit I guess" he rubbed his arm, looking away as their frowns deepened.

"What do you mean?"

"I-it's… it's hard to explain" he really wanted to switch topics, because he didn't like this one at all.

The girl from yesterday noticed their looks and Crona's increasingly anxious one and quickly came to his rescue "he had a rough time at his old school, bullies and people like that who treated him pretty horribly" her look saddened in the boy's direction as the gaze of the other girls shifted to her in surprise "that's why he apologizes a lot for looking happy, he probably got picked on more when he smiled."

The eyes of one of the new girls widened "people bullied him? How could anyone do something like that?"

Crona cast a thankful glance towards the tan-haired girl, at least she was trying to help "I guess it's because it was easy" he breathed out sadly "I-I've never liked fighting… so telling them to stop and trying to fight back when they picked on me" he shook his head "I-it felt too scary, e-especially since they were usually so much bigger then me" he slumped "not to mention the way I look, so tiny and scrawny, it probably made me look easy to them" he spoke truthfully as poked at his leg underneath the table, hating how thin he felt.

One of the new girls stared in disbelief "they really did all that to you because of the way you were?" he nodded slowly and then the new girl's face and her friends flooded with disgust "that's horrible" Crona shrugged sadly but then their faces became serious "well okay, I guess we're just going to have to compliment you all the more then."

Crona looked up with a frown, not understanding "what?"

"Yes, we'll have to get you nice and used to being happy won't we?" the other new girl smiled at him softly "you definitely deserve it."

"Exactly, a cute boy like you shouldn't be feeling like this" Crona shifted in the seat, sinking down low with embarrassment. Cute? "You should be as happy as can be."

The girls all giggled at his reaction as he lowered himself more, he was so shy; it was _adorable!_ The tan-haired girl was still smiling when she noticed how embarrassed he was getting from the compliments and that he was becoming somewhat uncomfortable with all the praise and she felt a playful sympathy for him "so Crona, have you enjoyed your time with the club so far?" she asked, deciding to move on to another topic for his sake.

He looked up at her from his lowered position and then slowly nodded "the… t-t-the Hosts have been really nice to me so far, s-so yes" he smiled a small sheepish smile, looking off to the side "it's been… fun."

"I'm glad to hear that" she and the other girls smiled.

"So what about today? The decorations and everything?" one of the new girls asked "we all know how overwhelming it can be for a first timer" the others giggled with her.

Crona nodded, looking around the room "I-it's… definitely different" he glanced down at his clothing "o-okay, _really_ different" he poked at some wrinkles in the large pants "I've never worn anything like this before… though it isn't that bad."

"Isn't _that_ bad? So you're saying that our clothes are bad somehow?" Crona felt hands on his shoulders and instantly shivered, those voices… "we usually wear that a lot of times when we set the club up like this" Hikaru smirked down at the boy below him "are you saying we look bad in clothes like these?"

"Yes, tell us how they're bad exactly Crona? we'd love to know" Kaoru chuckled in the boy's ear earning another shiver.

"W-well, t-t-that's not what I meant-"

The twins smirked in unison "that may bet he case, but you still went and hurt our feeling's Crona, that's not very nice."

Crona sunk down trying to get away from their hands "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…"

"Well then… what do you think you can do to make it up to us?" Hikaru chuckled suggestively as the twins rested their chins on the boy's shoulders _"because we're feeling oh so sad right now, and we need some comfort_" he whispered in Crona's ear.

Crona heard a quick breath across from the table and glanced to see all three girls were pink and ram-rod straight. So the twins were playing again… he was suppose to play along right? What was he supposed to say? He had a few ideas of an answer but they all seemed so _inappropriate_ to say here, but he had to say something right? "… what would you want?" he asked meekly.

The brothers grinned wider, he caught on quicker then they had thought "oh… we can think of a few things" Kaoru chuckled.

"Though… it all depends on you" Hikaru patted his hand on the boy's chest.

Crona sunk down lower, his own skin a light pink as the girls on the other side of the table became a much deeper shade than him. He really didn't know how to deal with a situation like this… but he was already this far, might as well finish _"… please be gentle"_ he squeaked, not believing he was going along with this.

He knew exactly what they were implying and it seemed so strange to be going along with this little show. Normally the thought of… _that_ in any form made him feel so uncomfortable, but this felt… fun almost. No not almost, it _was_ fun! The thought that _he_ was making a group of girls squeal because he was able to play along so well with these boys made him feel so accomplished. He suppressed a smile at this thought, he'd think about it later though, this feeling felt _good_.

The brothers smiled slyly "we'll be seeing you Crona" they straightened up and tapped his forehead as the girls squealed, but they weren't the only ones. Crona turned slightly to see dozens of the other girls were squealing and shaking themselves as well, and he also noticed how the hosts were grinning at him with impressed expressions.

Crona rubbed his forehead and was about to apologize to the girls when something happened unexpectedly. The floor began rumbling and the middle of the room suddenly began opening up. Crona felt a sudden jolt of panic wondering what was going on when he heard someone laughing loudly, but then he noticed how everyone was acting as if this were normal. The boy on the other hand was feeling the upmost confusion at the sight of a large platform rising out of the ground with a female student squirming on the top with a pink to her cheeks.

"Ooooooooh! I love it, _love_ _it_, _**love**_ _**it**_!" she was almost trembling up on her platform as Crona looked up at her, not understanding how anyone else wasn't noticing this "the two playful brothers preying on the young impressionable new boy at the host club, twisting his innocent mind to their own naughty " she hopped down and walked over to Crona who was shaking now. Who was this girl "that was so amazingly wonderful!" she practically had stars in her eyes "I feel as though I could eat three bowls of rice right now!"

"Renge come on, you're going to scare him off" Crona felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up in relief to see Haruhi there.

Renge looked up at her with a smile and laugh "I'm sorry, but it was so good, I couldn't help myself."

"Um… H-Haruhi?" she looked down at the pink haired boy "w-w-who is she?"

Kyoya walked over and then tapped Crona on the shoulder getting the boy's attention "_this_ is Renge Hoshakuji, the Host Clubs by far biggest fan-"

"_And_ Manager!" the girl added with a prideful smile.

Kyoya smiled warmly at the girl causing her to freeze up with a shiver as her face reddened, giving Crona the impression that she liked the Host "-and don't worry, she may be a bit… eccentric, but she's otherwise harmless."

"Though she's a total Otaku!" Crona heard someone call and he turned to see the twins with bored expressions on their faces.

Renge turned to them with a hurt expression "come on you two! That's not nice at all!" she squirmed where she stood, almost balling "I'm not an Otaku! I'm not!"

Kyoya gave Crona a glance with a small, amused smile "see? Eccentric" he glanced around at the other girls and when he judged that they were out of ear shot he leaned in "oh, and excellent work with the twins; that was a nice show you three put on."

Crona shifted with a small smile at the praise, but soon Renge had finished balling and had turned from the twins with a pout. When she turned back to the pink haired boy however she smiled again "hi there, sorry I didn't get to meet you earlier, I was out sick for a few days."

"Oh, t-that's alright, you don't need to apologize" Crona shifted around, not knowing what to do, but then he gave a stiff bow "m-my name's Crona."

Renge's smile grew and she bowed as well "nice to meet you Crona" they straightened up and Crona grabbed his arm as she began looking him over. Why did she have such a focused expression on her face? She still had the same look for a little bit longer before she smiled again "yeah, I think you're going to be a really nice addition to the Host Club, I can already tell" she frowned a little then "though… you could be a bit calmer…" the other hosts turned away rolling their eyes. There she went again trying to change one of the Host Club.

"Don't even try" Haruhi gave the girl a serious look and Renge laughed in response.

"Ok, ok, I'll behave" she smiled mischievously at Crona "mostly at least."

Crona forced himself not to look away from her, but mostly he found himself enjoying this a bit. She seemed like a nice enough person, but above all she had taken interest in _him_ and was already treating him like a friend, he liked that. This Host Club situation was getting better day by day. People were actually treating him nicely here, they were actually giving him a chance instead of shunning him, and they were letting him in on their private games.

He felt a sudden pang of sadness at the thought of being shunned and his mind shifted to the academy. Why did he have to go back to the hell that was waiting for him back there? At least here he was aloud to be happy without someone picking on him for it. He wished he could stay, this place was like paradise compared to the academy. But… he had a duty and a debt to pay back at the academy, and just because he enjoyed this place more, he wasn't going to let it get in the way.

Little did he know that this place held a little bit in common with the academy he was feeling so melancholy about at this time. The main similarity between the two being the abuse he received from the more… _unsavory_ characters that were a part of the schools. A similarity that he was going to be learning about very soon.

'~~~'

"So let me get this straight… you want us to go and beat this shrimp up after school?" a burly redhead teen in an Ouran jacket asked from his seat on a make shift chair made from a box. He sat across of a makeshift table made from a large cracked window on top of a crate and he was both confused and amused at the same time by this situation.

He and one of his friends, a teen of equal girth but with dirty blonde hair sat across from a smaller guy in an overcoat, scarf and hat that covered his face. These two were a pair of Ouran's few unfortunate delinquents, their parent's had enough money and pull to get these two into the academy but it was more show for the families then anything else so the two couldn't care much at all about their grades. So while they were on their way back from a convenience store, a bag of beers in hand when this guy had come out of an alley with an offer of a lot of cash.

"Basically" the mystery man answered.

"And you'll give us each five _grand_ just to do this?" the blonde asked with a chuckle "what's your beef with this guy? He looks like a pussy" he laughed more looking down at a picture of a thin pink haired boy.

"He's with the Host Club, and I don't care for them and their associates… at all" the mystery man answered abruptly "that's all you need to know about why I want this boy beaten."

The two teens looked at each other for a moment then shrugged as one "alright, sounds good to me" the redhead chuckled.

"Yeah, I never liked those Host Club assholes anyway, they turned me away once when I tried getting in" the blonde looked over at the guy across the table, then grinned "though… we're going to need the money upfront before we do anything."

"Fine" the guy pulled out a bag and tossed it over to them then got up as a few bills slid out "just make sure you make it painful, that little brat is way too happy working with those cheating bastards" and with that he left the warehouse, leaving the two thugs to laugh and high-five each other before taking the bag and leaving the warehouse.

This was going to be a fun evening for the two of them… or so they thought.

…

The rest of the day at school had gone by without much of an event for Crona as the Hosts returned to treating their customers while Renge had sat herself down at Crona's table. She had asked similar questions to the other girls but she was the picture of politeness the entire time, letting the other girls talk and even getting agreements when she made a positive comment about the boy and his work at the club. After the club had dispersed and he and Maka had met back up he had a lot to tell her about how good things had been for him.

Maka was proud of him of course, and she felt even more happiness for the boy when they were met at the gate by Haruhi and Renge. The boy was making so many friends here, and she could tell from the fact that _he_ was the one starting conversations with these two ~though he was still subtle and careful with the way he spoke~ that his confidence was steadily improving. This mission seemed to be a blessing in disguise for the boy with all the help he had been getting from these boys at the club she had never felt happier to see the boy smiling.

"So you're the Club's Manager?" Maka asked with a chuckle as she, Crona and the two other girls walked together "I didn't know it had something like that."

Renge smiled back "well, they may not see me as their Manager" she sighed happily as her face heated up a bit "no, Kyoya's got that under control…" she said dreamily. Maka raised an eyebrow and glanced at Haruhi who shrugged as Renge shook herself out of her stupor "but I still help out here and there every now and then."

Maka glanced back at Haruhi who smirked "hey, it's true, she's made some things a lot easier for us by helping out with info on a few customers" she chuckled "and sometimes she's made things more difficult, but at least it was always fun."

Renge frowned "hey, I didn't made things difficult."

Haruhi looked off to the side with a bigger smirk "oh sure, _you'd_ think that-"

"Oh come on Haruhi!" Renge pounded on her shoulder repeatedly "I help you out all the time, I don't cause problems! I don't!"

"Ok, ok, I'm sorry!" she laughed holding her hands up to fend off the light blows "I was just kidding."

"You shouldn't joke like that Haruhi! It's so mean!" Maka and Crona laughed at the two and Maka smiled all the more at the sound of Crona laughing. It was always nice to hear him laughing instead of being that silent, sad boy she always saw back home.

So while Haruhi had to put up with Renge pouting and whining about her being so mean, Maka slipped herself over to Crona who was currently watching the two girls with a smile "so Crona, still feeling worried about this Club thing?" she asked with smirk already knowing the answer as she remembered every happy thing he had to say about it today.

He shook his head, still smiling "no, t-the Hosts are a lot of fun, I-I don't think I've ever felt this happy for so long before" he looked down meekly "well… e-except when you're around of course."

Her smile grew "thank you, I'm happy to hear that."

_"You should be used to it by now, seeing as how he's like that all the time you're around"_ they heard a small voice and Crona twitched when a small tendril slid out of his collar and the eye at the end stared at Maka _"I mean really, I knew you were dense and all she-pig, but this is ridiculous"_ Ragnarok whispered.

_"Ragnarok! What are you doing!"_ Crona whispered furiously. He was having such a nice moment with Maka and the little Demon had to go and ruin it _"you're going to get caught!"_

_"Hey, I'm just telling it like it is here, no need to get snappy"_ the eye turned on the boy who was glancing from it to the two girls ahead of him _"and besides, she doesn't have to go and get all sappy just because you finally got the balls to compliment her"_ the eye slid back inside the boy _"and even then, it's not like she deserves it or anything."_

Crona was practically fuming at this point, but right before he could start talking Haruhi and Renge both stopped abruptly. He nearly ran right into them if it wasn't for Maka who had put her hand on his chest, keeping him back. He looked over Haruhi's shoulder and felt a jolt of fear to see two incredibly large boys in front of them, but the fear wasn't for himself at this moment, Maka, Haruhi and Renge were all that flooded his mind at this moment. His next feeling though was one of confusion when he saw that they were wearing Ouran uniforms, but then the fear was back when one of them with blonde hair took a step forward.

"Hey there ladies" he grinned at Renge and Maka, but then his smile became darker when he turned to Haruhi "alright, so I'm just going to get right down to it, _you_-" he put a hand on Haruhi's shoulder "can beat it" he shoved her to the side and she stumbled trying to keep herself upright "our beef's with the shrimp behind you."

Haruhi righted herself quickly and her mind flooded anger "hey! What the heck do you think you're doing?" she took a step towards the blonde, but then the other boy grabbed her arm held her back "what do you two want?"

"I said it already didn't I?" the blonde didn't turn and stopped right in front of Crona and Maka "we want this little brat right here" he gestured to Crona.

Maka scowled up at the boy pressing her free hand firmly against Crona's chest "what do you want with him?"

He chuckled down at her "let's just say that someone wants the kid roughed up" he grinned darkly "and honestly, I can see why, a puny little shrimp like you getting to join those Host assholes-" he shot a look back at Haruhi who had been yelling at the redhead before he punched the girl in the stomach earning a cry from Renge and a deep spark of anger from Crona "-when you got much better guys like us around, it's enough to piss anyone off" he reached forward, but when Maka slapped his hand away he scowled at her "okay, look sweetheart, we don't need to make this any harder" he shoved her away and Crona felt a much more intense feeling of rage, no one touched Maka. His hand clenched into a fist as the giant took a step closer.

"Stop it!" the blonde stopped and glanced back just see Renge start pounding on his arm "he's already had enough problems with bullies like you, he doesn't need anymore trouble!"

The blonde scowled darkly "look you little bitch" he turned from Crona and shrugged the girl off and grabbed the neck of her dress not even noticing the pink-haired boy move "I've got much better things to do with my time so let me finish this quick and back _off_!" he pulled a fist back making the girl flinch, but right before he made contact his arm suddenly stopped.

He looked down at it and then noticed a sharp pain coming from his wrist and when he looked there he saw a small slender hand holding him and soon Renge had opened her eyes which widened at what she saw. The pain coming from the hand however was becoming incredibly intense and the giant actually winced from the feeling as he followed the small hand back to its owner. And by doing this he found himself staring down at Crona who was looking back with the most venomous gaze anyone in the group had ever seen before.

The red head quickly shook off his feeling of shock from the tiny boy touching his friends and moved angrily away form Haruhi who was clutching her stomach, making choked noises as she gasped for breath "hey you little punk, get your hand off him!" he reached for Crona to throttle the shrimp, but then to his reignited shock the boy grabbed his wrist too, freezing him just like his friend but unlike the blonde he cried out at the sudden pain.

Crona still had that hateful look in his eye as he looked at them. They were bullies, just people wanting to pick on him for no other reason then that they could "… you two… you're just like the others" his grip tightened and the two boys grunted at the sharp pain coming from their wrists. But this time it was much different then all the other times "… I normally don't know what to do with other people who pick on me" it tightened again and the two fell to their knees gripping at the hands that held them trying to pry them off but the fingers wouldn't budge. These two had crossed a boundary that Crona had set up long ago, you can touch him, but if they touched anyone else… "but when someone like you two… pick on my friends…" he squeezed down and the two cried out as the others ~even Haruhi~ winced, hearing a sharp crack. Touching his friends was when he drew the line "I know exactly how to deal with you" he let go and before either of them could react he kicked the blonde in the stomach with enough force to make the boy cough something up "_that_, was for touching Maka" he turned on the red-head and kicked him just as hard "_that_, was for hurting Haruhi" he stared down at them with disgust as they fell to the ground, gasping for breath and choking on whatever they were coughing up.

He wanted to hurt them now. He wanted to beat the two of them to death. Break their bones, peel away their skin, tear their dirty rotten stomachs out and shove them right back down their throats for what they had just done to his friends, just because they wanted to beat him up. He could deal with someone hurting him, he was used to pain, and he deserved most of it for the things he had done, but when someone hurt his friends, just because they tried protecting him… no, that was when he wanted to rip the ones involved limb from limb just like Medusa had taught him to do all that time ago in the past.

He stomped down on one of them "you came here to hurt me" he kicked the other "you wanted to hurt me for no reason at all and I could deal with that" he kicked him again "but then you hurt my friends just for getting in the way" he stomped down on the blonde again, and again, and again "and I know exactly how to deal with you two because of that, I can deal with hurting people like you" each stomp was getting worse and the boy had curled into a ball to try and protect himself "you're just like the others, you're exactly like them, trying to hurt me, and pick on me without even knowing anything about me!" he wasn't even there anymore, this was all the pent up anger talking now as he stomped on this bully harder and harder "but touching my friends is when I won't put up with it anymore, I'm not going to let my friends be abused, or made fun, or picked on just because they get in the way" he was leaving marks now, little scrapes and cuts on the blonde's arms were showing up and multiplying "you two crossed the line when you touched my friends, no one touches-"

"Crona!" his foot froze mid-stomp when he felt someone's hands on his arm. He looked over to see Maka holding his arm and then he saw the scared expression on her face, and that look erased everything else in his mind. Maka was scared… of him right now… of what he had just done. He could deal with plenty of things, but Maka being afraid of him… he couldn't deal with that at all "that's enough Crona, these two are done, they can't hurt you anymore" she gave his arm a squeeze as he stepped back from the two huddled forms of the bullies who were making weak whines and other noises "you're fine now, you're ok" she tried smiling at him as she gently rubbed his arm.

"Ma… M-M-Maka I-I'm…" he shook his head and backed away "I didn't… I-I-I didn't mean to-"

"No, it's alright Crona, I understand" she hugged him then "I can understand why you got like that, and I want you to know that you did nothing wrong."

"But… but I… scared you" he was shaking now as he watched Renge help Haruhi up and the girl then looked down at the two bullies with a slack jaw. A little kid like Crona, had just beaten up two guys nearly twice his size. She had heard the rumors every now and then about people at that Academy place he was from, about how the students are pretty much super-humans, but this was crazy.

Maka hugged the boy tighter when he said that "_no_, you didn't scare me Crona, I was just worried" she rubbed his back "I saw that look in your eye and I thought that… that the insanity had come back, that it was taking over again" she backed up and stared him in the eye "so please Crona, understand, you didn't scare me, you haven't done anything to scare me" she looked down at the two bullies and dragged Crona towards the other girls "come on, let's get out of here, we'll take care of this later once the others are safe okay?" she pulled him over to Renge who was now supporting Haruhi on her shoulder "are you two alright?"

Haruhi nodded painfully still holding her stomach "yeah, that jerk hit me pretty hard…" she chuckled but then coughed with a wince "but don't worry… it's not that bad."

"Not that bad?" Renge shook her head, looking at Haruhi with concern "Haruhi your feet left the ground for a second when that boy hit you, that can't be good for you" she turned to Maka and Crona "I think we need to bring him to a hospital to make sure he's alright."

Haruhi chuckled again "really Renge, don't worry, I'm tougher then I look" she looked over to Crona who immediately looked down shamefully, but the girl smiled "nice job with those two Crona, you really saved us."

Maka noticed the shame in his eyes as he stared at the ground and felt a pang of sadness "really Crona, you did good here" she patted his back gently and the others focused on him trying to make him feel better, which is the reason that all of them didn't noticed the figure painfully moving a few paces behind them.

"You don't need to feel bad just because you hurt those two" Renge put a hand on his shoulder "they're a couple of thugs who wanted to hurt you for no reason, they deserved it."

"Yeah, you haven't done anything wrong here-" she stopped suddenly and then her eyes widened "Crona! Behind you!" she shouted.

But before he could even move he felt something incredibly hard hit the back of his head resulting in a loud clang and a scream from Renge as Crona's head jerked forward… though that was all it resulted from it as the rest of the boy didn't move an inch. His only reaction was his arms beginning to shake as the red-head he had neglected to beat earlier dropped the pipe in his hands and took a step back, not understanding how this was happening.

"What the hell…" he took another step back.

Crona turned to face him and felt that deep rage boiling inside him again as he looked up revealing the murderous look in the boy's eyes _"Ragnarok?"_ he thought.

_"Yeah?"_

_"Harden the blood in my hand please"_ his hand clenched into a fist, so tight that his knuckles turned white _"I want this to hurt"_ he just got a chuckle in response as a slight tingling in his hand as the blood hardened. The red-head took one step back but then Crona moved forward and decked the giant right in the middle of his face, knocking him off his feet.

Maka and the others looked down at the unconscious giant and then backed up to Crona not knowing how to comprehend what had just happened. Crona… little shy, sensitive Crona, just beat up two thugs and took a pipe to the head without so much as a flinch. It was the thought of the pipe that snapped Maka out of her stupor as her eyes widened "Crona! Are you ok?!" she turned him around to face her and the boy could see the worry and pure fear for his wellbeing in her expression. And Haruhi had seemingly forgotten about her injury and was at his other side, her eyes filled with the same concern while Renge was actually crying behind the two of them.

"Are you alright Crona?" Haruhi looked over his shoulder at the back of his head "that guy just… he hit smacked you with a…" she shook her head.

Crona looked at them with confusion, why were they acting so worried about him right now "y-yes I'm fine, I-I've taken worse then this" he directed most of his confusion at Maka, she should know better then anyone about what he could survive "t-the back of my head is just a little sore."

But the genuine concern in her eyes still showed "you're sure you're ok? Nothing else hurts?" he shook his head and she finally breathed out in relief.

Haruhi and Renge on the other hand didn't share the feeling "you're positive nothing's wrong? I mean he- he hit you with a pipe!" Haruhi looked down at the object fearfully, but she was glad to see that for the most part the rusty object was clean, there was no blood to be seen on the metal.

Crona shook his head and turned showing them his head "n-no, I'm fine, just look" they all saw that his hair was clean and as Maka recovered from the situation she saw that it made sense that Crona was ok. A blunt object wasn't going to do much to hurt him other then leaving a bruise, it was sharp things he had to worry about.

Haruhi breathed out, staring at his hair for a while longer as Renge took a step forward "you're really alright?" Crona nodded and she sniffled, wiping at her eyes "I thought… I thought Ouran had lost another student" Crona and Maka both slumped at the mention of the students "losing all of those girls from the club was bad enough" the meisters tensed at that "but losing a Host too, that'd be too much for any of us to bare."

"Wait… all of the murders had been girls from the club" Maka asked suddenly.

Renge frowned for a moment at the sudden topic shift but nodded "you're new here so I guess you wouldn't know, but yes" she wiped the last of her tears away "sure, some of the families had boys and girls who had nothing to do with the club" she sniffled "but there was always one person in the house who was a part of the club, a customer, or a friend of the Hosts who came to visit every now and then" Maka and Crona glanced at each other from the corners of their eyes as Renge sniffled again "oh, I'm just so glad you're ok" she stepped forward and hugged Crona out of nowhere startling the boy as she shook into his shoulder "we've been able to push through it these days because the girls were always the happiest, and us living happily would have been what they wanted, but if we lost someone like you…" she shook her head "that would have been horrible."

Crona was still trying to recover from his shock when Haruhi put her hand on Renge's shoulder "come on, we should get out of here and head home, it's not a good idea to stay around any more."

Renge was still shaking a fraction but she soon got a grip on herself and nodded at her "yeah, we can go to my house" she looked at Crona "I know you said that you're ok, but can you please just come with us and let some of my housemaids take a look at you, please?"

Crona glanced at Maka and she gave a slight nod. What could the harm be? He looked back at Renge and reluctantly nodded "ok, that's fine."

Renge sagged with relief "thank you" she went back over to Haruhi and wrapped an arm around hers "come on, we better hurry before those two wake up."

Haruhi nodded then glanced back at the two hulks with disgust "yeah, though I wouldn't worry much about them, I'm going to be having a word with Kyoya about all of this when I see him tomorrow."

Crona shivered at that as he and Maka began walking after them "Haruhi… I-I know that they're bad people and all but… do they really deserve _that_?" Maka raised an eyebrow as she followed the boy.

"Are you kidding?" Haruhi glanced at the boy incredulously "they probably bruised one of my ribs, and if you weren't some kind of…" she waved a hand around "super-strong guy you'd probably be dead because of what they hit you with, they deserve everything coming to them."

Still, it was hard to wish Kyoya's wrath on anyone, Crona almost felt sorry for those boys… almost.

'~~~'

That was… interesting to watch for the mystery man. That boy, Crona, there seemed to be more then meets the eyes when it came to him. The man grinned behind the scarf, it looked like he needed to make a call.

He pulled out a phone and it only rang twice before it was answered "'ello?"

"Mister Jake?"

"Yeah?"

"Oi! Jake, whose bellin' us?" Johnny no doubt.

A laugh "the boss."

"Yes, I was just calling to tell you two about a new development over here" the man watched the retreating forms of the students "I have a few new targets for you."

Two laughs now "really now? Is the little poppet a pretty one?"

"I suppose, though she isn't the only one, I believe you'll be having fun with four students this time."

"Four?" a maniacal laugh this time.

"Oi boss, you yankin our chains here?"

"No, I would never lie to you boys, you've done so much for me after all."

"Oh, brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!" the man heard the sound of a chair scraping against the ground "we'll be right over to discuss the details!"

"Oh this is going to be a bash brother!" the phone disconnected and the man looked down at it with a chuckle. A bash indeed.

* * *

_**Alright everyone like I said, sorry I took so long with this, but I'll be trying to work on this more when I have the time to update it faster.**_

_** But anyway, ooh, who is this mystery man? What's his plan's for our favorite little swordsman and his friends? You'll have to stay tuned to find out.**_


	5. Revelations and Parties

Crona and Maka had followed Renge all the way to her estate just as she asked for, completely oblivious to the man tailing them about thirty paces back. He remained a across the street watching the house while inside some of Renge's servants took a look at the back of Crona's head and Haruhi's ribs. Fortunately both were deemed healthy so Crona and Maka felt that it was time to leave, they needed to talk with Death about this new information about the murders, but before the even made it to the door Renge stopped them and asked them to stay for tea. Oddly enough, it was Crona this time who agreed and when Maka whispered for an explanation the boy replied that it would be rude to say no, Renge had brought them here to make sure they were all okay after all so it was the least they could do.

"_And besides" _Crona glanced at Renge who ~along with Haruhi~ was busy looking through her tea flavors _"we might be able to learn some more things about the Eggs this way right?"_

Maka had to admit, the thought had evaded her _"uh… yeah actually that's a good plan"_ must have been the shock from earlier, or else she would have proposed something along the same lines _"good think-"_

"OK you two!" the meisters went ramrod straight right as the two girls turned around, though Renge was still smiling so she must not have heard the small conversation "what would you like for your tea?"

Crona coughed, glad that Renge hadn't heard anything "um, d-do you have peppermint?" the thought of another person finding out about their mission made him shiver.

"Yeah, I think I'll have the same" Maka looked around the room trying to calm her nerves while Haruhi sat down across from her; that was way too close. When she felt that she was calm enough to speak without sounding suspicious she turned to face Haruhi while Renge began brewing the tea in the next room "sooo… about earlier Haruhi" she began quietly "when Renge said all those things about those murders…" she left the question in the air.

Which Haruhi picked up immediately "yeah" she nodded, her shoulders sagging a fraction at the topic "… Renge wasn't kidding around when she said that every last one of the murders had a customer or friend of the Host's involved" she glanced back at Renge who was humming to herself, she still hadn't heard.

"W-was there anything they shared in common?" Crona asked "other then the club I mean."

Haruhi shook her head "no, the club was pretty much the only thing similar about them" Maka and Crona nodded, it's not like any new info would come so easily. They were still feeling depressed about this when Haruhi's eyes suddenly narrowed "wait a minute…" they looked up "actually, they did have something in common, personality wise."

Maka frowned "what do you mean?"

"I don't know if this will help or anything, but you know how Renge said that the victims would have wanted the rest of us to enjoy life at the club? Like how all the Host's and customers are being so happy, or at least trying to be?" the meisters nodded, though Crona felt some confusion. He hadn't seen any sadness in the eyes of anyone at the club and he should know everything about hidden feelings… though at the same time he didn't once think to look for them in the eyes of all those happy girls, he was too busy trying not to mess up "well it's because every victim _loved_ the club" Haruhi glanced back to Renge who was now pulling cups out and the Host leaned in "and I mean _loved_ it, they were by far the happiest people there were in that room, and all throughout the rest of school they would talk and laugh about the good times they had with the Hosts."

"So every victim was a member of the club, and they were open about it?" Maka asked making sure.

"Yeah, in fact a lot of them brought new customers in with them if they were curious about the club" Haruhi finished just as Renge was walking over with two cups of finished tea.

Maka and Crona glanced at each other when Renge turned to start on the next cups for herself and Haruhi "were they ever like this out of school or at least outside the gate?"

Haruhi shook her head "no, nearly every member of this school has a chauffeur to take them home so if they were open about no one would be able to hear it before they were gone."

Then where could the Eggs have watched from "have you ever seen anyone around the school who looks like they don't belong there?" Crona asked "l-like anyone who acted jittery, o-or someone who muttered to themselves?"

Haruhi shook her head again "no, the security in this school is pretty good most of the time, the only time we ever had a slip up was with a doctor who was looking for his daughter, the security missed him completely" she shrugged "every other time they know exactly what they're looking for in someone who doesn't belong here, not to mention the fact that there's _always_ someone running around trying to get somewhere in Ouran, there's never a time that the halls are completely empty, so pretty much the only way you're going to go unnoticed around here is if you've got a uniform on."

This changed things for the meisters. According to Haruhi the victims all had something to do with the club, not only that but they were open about it except for when they went home. Plus the security would have caught anyone acting suspicious and you don't get much more suspicious then hanging around a bunch of kids listening to them. So then how could the Eggs pick targets that all had an openly happy club member in each and every one?

The answer didn't come to the meisters when Renge returned with the next batch of tea. It didn't come to them throughout the conversations they had with Haruhi and Renge while they had their tea. It didn't come when Renge offered for the three others to come and spend the night the next day so they could study for next week and enjoy the rest of the night when they were done. And it also didn't come as they left to return home and speak to Lord Death, completely oblivious to the eyes watching them as they walked away.

'~~~'

This was perfect! The mystery man had been waiting for a chance like this forever! He'd had plenty of chances to get rid of that idiotic girl Renge but he had bided his time hoping for something like this. _Two_ hosts! It was almost too good to be true. Sure killing a few Hosts may ruin the chances of parents tearing the club apart, but he didn't care, a chance like this to make the club suffer wouldn't come again, so he had to seize it while it was there.

And besides, he had wanted to get at these two anyway seeing as how the had _joined_ those bastards in the damn club. The others were all morons for falling for the tricks those Hosts put out every damn day, but those two joining willingly made him want to strangle a cat! And anyone else who enjoyed being with those _fakes_ deserved everything that happened to them so he felt no remorse sicing the brothers on all those families like he was just about to do with these four. He was going to make the Hosts and everyone involved with them suffer for humiliating him the way they did, for believing they could control him like they did with everyone else in Ouran, with all their wealth and status.

Oh yes, they were all going to be dead and gone by the time he had finished.

'~~~'

"You're right, it's too much of a coincidence for _all_ of those mass murders to have a club member in them" Lord Death's mask was scrunched up as he thought about this "and you say that according to your friend they were all extremely open about their ties with the club? Going so far as to invite others who were curious about its activities?"

"Yes, Haruhi seemed to put that out the most, it was the only thing she noticed about them when she thought about it" Maka answered as she stared down at the map below her.

"And you're sure she wasn't mistaken?"

"Yes sir" Crona nodded "H-Haruhi isn't the type to get mistaken."

Death raised an 'eyebrow' "and you know this how?"

Crona felt a bit uncomfortable under the gaze and shifted a bit, sinking lower onto the couch "well… s-she made it into a school like Ouran because she was smart didn't she? P-p-plus she can see through the Hosts unlike the other girls" he poked at his leg hoping he would stop looking already.

Death kept his gaze on the boy for a while longer but then nodded "okey dokey then, this makes things a bit easier for us" he said happily, earning frowns from the students.

"S-sir? What do you mean?"

"Isn't it obvious?" he cocked his head at the boy "what I've gathered from what you've told me is that there's no way that the Eggs are choosing randomly, but at the same time there's no way that they could get on school property without someone noticing unless they have a uniform on" he tapped on the mirror "and from what we got out of that weapon before he died was that these two were very tall and that they had a tendency to snicker and laugh for no good reason, so people like that would be impossible to go unnoticed even with uniforms."

"But sir, how does this make it easier?" Maka shook her head not understanding "if anything it makes it harder because there's no way they could find victims with the exact same personalities if they can't get inside Ouran."

"Unless… someone in Ouran told them who to go after" the students froze at the words as Death straightened up.

"What?" Crona shivered at the thought.

"You heard me, someone in Ouran is helping the Kishin Eggs."

"But… but why would anyone do that!" Maka felt even more confused now. What he had just said was completely _insane_.

"Because, Kishin Eggs can do many things that ordinary human's can't, like evade or kill dozens of police" Death's hands popped out and he crossed his arms "and if you're still having trouble understanding this think of Black Star's family, they were all assassins that finally began eating souls to get better at what they did and people still hired them, knowing full well that they were no longer human" he leaned in again "so why couldn't a situation like that come around again?"

"But for someone in Ouran, a janitor, a teacher, a _student_ to send those things after someone else in the school, someone they know…" Maka shook her head "why would anyone do that?" she asked again.

"Why not?" Death turned around "jealousy can warp people to such lengths that they could be willing to do anything, and what's not to be jealous about when it comes to the Hosts?" he lifted a head and began counting things off on his fingers "they're part of the richest families in Japan, they're all incredibly handsome, nearly every girl in the school adores them…" he glanced back at the two of them.

"But… b-but it's the customers that are being killed" Crona frowned "what do the Hosts have to do with it?"

"Look at the map Crona" he pointed to the paper "they choose certain houses instead of staying in one area and they pick certain victims, we know that much."

"But that's nothing new" Maka said "dozens of Kishin Eggs pick certain victims to kill, like Jack The Ripper, he only went after prostitutes."

"Yes, but how many of those Eggs could know about these girls being a part of the club, and before you even ask I had Azusa look through some things and yes every one of those girls were a part of the Host club, and that is too much of a coincidence to go unnoticed" he pointed to the map again "I also had her look at the houses surrounding the ones of the victims and guess what she found?" the two could already guess "some were the only ones in the communities that had girls going to that academy, and for the ones with multiple students they were the only ones involved in that club… and so we come back to your question, what does this have to do with the Hosts?" Death straightened up again "the answer is simple… someone wants to hurt the Hosts by killing these girls, because who would suffer from the deaths of those girls more then those boys?"

Maka looked down at the map and felt sick as she thought about it "people would… they would eventually put it together that there's a link between the murders and the club."

"P-parent's would… they'd start taking their girls away from it" Crona grimaced then his eyes widened at a new thought "s-some might even blame the Hosts themselves!"

"The club would be torn apart by the families of the girls, pulling out the ones already in there, and the ones who blamed the Hosts would hound them endlessly" Maka stared down at the map with shock "their lives could be ruined by this."

"Exactly" Death crossed his arms "so do you want to know what I think? I think that there is someone in that academy, someone so jealous of the hosts, someone who hates them so incredibly much that they would condemn their fellow students to death just to ruin those boys."

"I… can't believe it" Maka ran her hand through her hair "someone's actually… _helping_ those Eggs! Giving them victims" she bit back the taste of bile at the disgusting thought.

"And so you understand now that you need to find this person and keep them locked down until you find the Eggs" he said urgently "or kill the Eggs before they cause anymore damage and then hunt down whoever is helping them, we need to take care of this before things escalate any further."

"Yes sir" Maka nodded, though she seemed to be struck numb almost from this new revelation "we'll get right on it."

"Make sure you do" the mirror went dark.

Crona and Maka were still staring at the glass blankly as they tried to come to terms with this before, seeming to be on auto-pilot, they got up and went to bed without a word to each other. They just couldn't believe what they had just figured out a few minutes ago and they had no idea how to deal with it, especially Crona. The thought of another human being setting those monsters onto other students made the two feel sick just thinking about it and it was so much worse for Crona who knew so many potential victims, losing one of them would feel horrible.

At least they knew more about the situation, there was that, and with this new information they could probably figure out who was helping the Eggs and stop them before it was too late. Or Crona _hoped_ they could stop them that is.

…

The next day was incredibly awkward for Crona. Upon entering Ouran the boy was met with many whistles, pats on the back and even quite a few cheers from many of the students and by when the time for the Club finally came he had received more praise and attention he knew how to deal with. So when he entered the music room and was met by confetti and streamers he felt a very faint voice in the back of his head screaming for it all to end because this was becoming out of control. He obviously didn't of course because the surprise and uncomfortable feeling in his chest hit him full force at the sight of so many people staring at him, erasing any other thoughts. The other rooms had much less people in them, but there were dozens of students in here, way more then he could handle looking at him.

"Crona! The Host club's hidden knight has finally arrived!" Tamaki came up suddenly and hugged the boy startling him as the older teen began spinning him around "oh I had no idea you could be so strong and valiant! Beating those two brutes the way they did when they tried assaulting you" he set the boy down and was beaming as he stared at the dizzy boy who was now wobbling on his feet "and you even protected my dear Haruhi in his time of-"

"Tamaki! Stop smothering him!" Crona blinked away the last of his dizziness and swallowed back his nausea to see Haruhi flicking the older teen's hands off "you're freaking him out."

"But Haruhi, your papa just wants to thank the man who saved you" Tamaki whined, sucking on a finger she flicked "is that so wrong?" he practically had sad puppy eyes as he looked at her.

"Yeah, yeah, you're overdoing it is all" she shot him a withering look "and after all the crap he had to put up with yesterday I don't want him having any more problems."

"I agree, it doesn't seem fair to overload the boy with all of this praise, he isn't used to it after all" Kyoya came over with a small smile as he patted Crona's shoulder "though on the other hand I don't think he'll be having much trouble for a while now" the teen chuckled, pushing his glasses up while a shiver went up Crona's spine "especially from those two boys after the little… 'talk' I had with them."

Crona's expression filled with surprise, Haruhi really asked him? "M-mister Kyoya, you didn't have to-"

"Cro-chan!" he was interrupted by a sudden force hitting his arm and when he looked down he saw Honey looking up with stars in his eyes "did you really beat up those two bullies like everyone's saying?"

"Um… well y-yes, but-"

"Wow! You must be really strong then right?" he then out of nowhere hopped up and latched onto Crona's arm "hey Cro-chan, try lifting me! I want to see if you can do it!"

Mori however was on Kyoya's side here, Crona obviously had no idea how to deal with all of this attention. In a small way the giant almost felt sorry for him "Honey…" he put a hand on the small blonde's shoulder.

"Oh come on Takashi" Honey laughed up at the tall teen "we're having a party for him aren't we? So let's have some fun!"

"Yeah, he's right Mori-Senpai" the twins popped up on both sides of the teen and immediately dragged him back towards a few tables as he stared back at Crona and Honey blankly. Oh well, he tried "so come on, you can come help us cut the cake while the others play around for a bit."

"Yeah Cro-chan, try lifting me up! Pleeeeease" Honey pleaded.

Crona looked around at the others as they laughed and smiled and reluctantly stood up straight. He didn't want to ruin everyone's good time just because this was so out of place for him "okay… I-I guess I could…" he took a breath and lifted his arm up with no trouble at all making the girls all clapped in awe at easily he did.

"Wow" Haruhi said, evidently surprised "usually Mori's the only one able to do that so easily."

"Yeah! Looks like he really is a toughy" Honey giggled, swinging from Crona's outstretched arm "you know, I can't believe that's you're always so nervous when you can do things like this, it's weird" he smiled up at the boy then swung off towards the tables the twins dragged Mori off to "oh well! Cake time!" he ran over giggling, his rabbit flailing in the air behind him.

"He has a point you know" Crona turned to Kyoya who was looking at the boy with a bit of curiosity "you obviously have amazing strength, and yet you let people walk over you most of the time" he looked at the pink-haired boy closely "why was yesterday with those boy's different?"

Crona shifted on his feet "well… t-they hurt Haruhi… and were about to hurt Renge and Maka just to get to me" he looked off to the side "a-and I don't know it just made me… angry."

Kyoya nodded "that's understandable, I would be quite angry as well if someone tried hurting people I cared for."

"Especially if they were going after my little Haruhi!" Tamaki yelled looking angry, right before Haruhi flicked him in the head.

"Give it a rest Senpai" she then turned away rolling her eyes when Tamaki looked back with a more intense puppy dog stare.

"You're so cruel Haruhi" he sniffled earning giggles, laughs and a few sympathetic 'awws' from the customers around him. He then turned on Crona and before the boy could react the Host had wrapped him up in another hug "well at least the Club's newest shining knight will accept my thanks" contrary to that statement Crona was doing his best to try and squirm out of Tamaki's grasp. The Host was hugging him, he only knew how to deal with Maka and Marie doing that, he didn't like this one bit.

"Really Tamaki, you're going a tad bit overboard now aren't you?" Kyoya raised an amused eyebrow as Crona struggled "I think you're scaring him."

"Exactly, so give him some space" Haruhi sighed, shaking her head.

"Oh alright" Tamaki straightened up and wiped at his eyes "I suppose I am being a tad overemotional" he sniffed but then he put his hands on Crona's shoulders with a smile "but the thought of my Haruhi being in danger and then you saving her…" he patted Crona's shoulders then backed up "I simply wished to voice my thanks."

"I-It's fine, really, y-y-you don't have to thank me" Crona rubbed the back of his head.

"Oh but we _do_" Kyoya put a hand on Crona's shoulder and turned him towards the table Honey ran to "and so we all pitched in to make all of this" he gestured to an incredibly _large_ cake which the twins and Mori were currently cutting up "I was made aware that you have a fondness for strawberries" he lifted a plate and gave Crona a piece of cake which had a deep pink liquid seeping out of the middle "and so I made sure a section of the cake was filled with a very fine strawberry custard."

"… Strawberry?" Crona swallowed as he stared down at the slice on his plate "y-you made this with _strawberry_!" he smiled wide and everyone else chuckled and laughed.

"Yep" The twins took slices for themselves with grins "so, now that we've gotten all the thanks out of the way, how about we dig into this cake?" Hikaru asked eagerly while Mori began handing slices out to everyone else gathered around.

"I'm sure that Crona agrees, right?" Kaoru chuckled right as Crona cut off a piece of his slice.

_"Uh-huh"_ was all the boy could reply with earning more laughs as he enjoyed the cake.

This day was absolutely perfect, he had people coming up to him and thanking him for helping another person, he was having a party thrown for him by some of his friends, not to mention he was getting to eat cake filled with _strawberries_! He was so happy right now.

So happy and blissfully ignorant of what was going to happen later that day when he and Maka returned to Renge's home.


	6. Party Crashing Plans

_**So sorry that this took so long, it's just that I took a vacation with my family over the break and schoolwork has been getting in the way. I hope it's worth the wait.**_

* * *

Crona has always wondered what it would be like if he had been born normal. Not like Maka, or Soul or anyone else he knew at the Academy, but _normal_-normal without any powers, without any madness and without a witch for a mother. And as he sat down with the other Hosts smiling and laughing a large part of him hoped his life would have been at least a sliver like this, where people didn't just look at him and sneer in disgust or throw things at him but instead treat him like a human being.

Though at the same time if it wasn't for his powers he probably would have never met Maka and he didn't like the thought of that one bit. And besides if it wasn't for _her_ he would never have been able to think about things like this or build up enough confidence to sit around people and try to enjoy his life. And that brought him to his next thoughts, Maka… from the way things have been going at Ouran Crona expected that he and Maka would be here for quite some time, which meant plenty of chances for him to talk with her and get closer, and so he finally came to a decision. He was going to ask the Hosts for help.

Not in the club obviously, that would make things a bit awkward, for himself and the Hosts, no he would do it after, maybe ask Haruhi to talk to the others and get them together afterschool so he could talk with them. This was probably going to be embarrassing, it was no doubt going to make him feel _incredibly_ uncomfortable talking with the others about his feeling for Maka, but a chance like this was too good to pass up. And besides, if the Host Club couldn't help him with a relationship then he didn't know who could. They seemed to know how to talk to girls and wrap them around their fingers like it was nothing, so helping him just _talk_ to Maka about how he felt should be easy for them.

Though he would probably wait a day or two before asking them because they had already done all of _this_ for him after all, asking for more just sounded greedy. No he was content with waiting it out and enjoying this new feeling of happiness while everyone smiled because of him.

"_So_ _Crona_" he glanced at Haruhi who was in the middle of finishing a piece of her cake "_are_ _you_…" she swallowed "are you still able to come over to Renge's tonight?"

He nodded "yes, me and Maka should be able to."

"That's good to hear, she's really looking forward to it from what I saw" she chuckled "you should have seen her when her teachers asked her for some help with some students keeping her from coming."

"I bet she was devastated; he did save her after all, she would want to thank him so much" Tamaki smiled and patted the boy on the shoulder "I for one would enjoy having the company of the person that kept me safe from two scoundrels like the ones that attacked you."

"True, though at the same time I think she just wants to be around him" Kyoya smirked in the boy's direction "he is quite handsome."

"Yeah, I don't see why any girl wouldn't want to spend time with him" Kaoru chuckled at Crona's reaction as the boy sank lower in his seat "being the smart, strong and cute little guy he is."

"Guys…" the boy looked off towards a corner; it was looking pretty good right about now.

"Oh calm down" Hikaru laughed "we're just teasing you" he playfully punched Crona's shoulder.

"Even though everything they said was true" one of the customers said with a smile earning quite a round of agreement from the rest of the girls.

"Oh…" yeah, that corner was looking _very_ good right now.

The others all laughed at his reaction "wow, he _really_ doesn't know how to deal with compliments does he?" another girl asked quietly.

"No, but that's why we have to do it all the more so he can get used to them" Tamaki smiled at the girl "it'll be a challenge I'm sure, but the reward will feel so very satisfying for all of us to see our little knight here smiling and happy all the time."

"Hey, maybe we should do this again tomorrow" Honey came up with a big slice of cake "that would probably make him feel happy right?"

Kyoya's eye twitched but he hid it well "Honey… you know as well as I do that you only want to do that for the cake" he pushed his glasses up, breathing out "and besides doing something like this multiple times would be incredibly… costly even, for _us_."

"And unlike you, some of us will get sick of eating cake everyday" Haruhi stared down at her second, half-eaten, piece "like right now for me, I'm already getting full."

Honey sagged a little "aww, I really wanted to do this again."

"Just because we can't do it everyday doesn't mean we won't do it again Senpai" Hikaru ruffled the small teen's hair.

"We can probably do it every now and then for the kid" Kaoru grinned over at Kyoya "isn't that right?"

Kyoya sighed "I suppose we could" he crossed his arms, thinking about it "I'll have to see how things stand with our budget, but I believe you're right, we could do this again… if we wait a while that is."

"Yay! More cake!" Honey cheered, throwing his arms up.

"No, you don't have to do that" Crona waved his hands "you don't need to spend any more on me" that earned a snort from Haruhi "what?" he frowned at her as she snickered a bit more.

"Crona, since when have we _needed_ to do anything we do here?"

"She's got you there kid" Kaoru nudged his side "we don't _need_ to do anything in the club, we choose to."

"And besides, this place would stink if the school was in charge" Hikaru grimaced "since when have teachers ever come up with anything fun for students."

"So it's settled" Tamaki clapped his hands with a smile "we'll do all of this again once our dear Kyoya here gets through with looking things over" he smiled wide at the pink haired boy "and just fair warning Crona, we'll make you enjoy yourself even if you don't want to."

Crona repressed a shiver, he couldn't hear a threat or anything there, but it just sounded ominous "ok… I guess" how do you _make_ someone enjoy themselves?

"Splendid!" he cheered before turning to the table "here, how about I go get you another slice of cake."

Crona watched him as he walked away and he slightly shook his head, he'd already had three pieces "um… Haruhi?" she turned to him with a quizzical look "Tamaki, when he… wants to thank someone, does he go overboard."

She rubbed the back of her head sheepishly with a shaky laugh "oooh, yeah" she winced a bit "he can get pretty bad."

"Oh" that didn't bode well.

"Hey Crona!" he glanced towards the blond "would you like some more cake!" Tamaki called, waving for the boy.

That didn't bode well at all "um, sure, b-be right there."

…

Maka glanced over to her friend as they walked down the sidewalk on their way to Renge's "so, I take it things went well at the club?" she smirked at Crona's sick expression "I'm guessing there was cake?" her smirk grew when he make a meek gagging noise as he held a plastic bag away from him.

"Please don't say cake" Crona groaned holding his free hand over his stomach.

"Really? It was that bad?" she raised an amused eyebrow.

"It wasn't bad, no it was great!" he shook his head "but they kept offering more and more _cake_" he grimaced at the word "and it seemed rude to say no."

"Aww, poor guy" she patted his head. After thinking about what he said more though she frowned "uh hey Crona?

"Hmm?"

"If you were so sick of the cake, then how come you've got a bag of it with you?" she pointed down at the bag.

"Oh, well I…" he shifted around a bit "… I thought Renge might want some… since she couldn't come to the party and all."

"Aww, that's so sweet of you" she smiled with a smirk "looking out for her after all you did yesterday" she looked up with a big smile "huh, I wonder, does my best friend Crona have a crush?" she nudged him again completely missing how he tensed up at her words.

"N-no! It's not like that at all!" he nearly shouted, anxiety flooding through him "something like that could never even happen!" he had a tiny bit of sweat on his neck now "it wouldn't happen" he said again as an assurance.

She however just chuckled, missing the anxiety behind his words "oh, don't worry, I'm just teasing you" he breathed out in relief, the last thing he _ever_ wanted was Maka thinking he liked someone else.

_"I couldn't deal with her thinking something like that"_ he looked over at her and was glad to see that she seemed to think it was all a joke at the moment _"that would completely ruin everything if she did"_ he looked down at the ground as they continued to walk.

A little after his outburst Maka had laced her fingers behind the back of her head, remaining silent for a while as she contemplated his words "hey Crona?" she finally said as she glanced at him "what did you mean by that?"

He looked up at her warily "mean by what?"

"About something like that never happening, between you and Renge I mean" she gave him a quizzical look "frankly I think something like that could happen a lot with someone like you."

"What do you mean?" he looked at her with confusion now, how could any girl want to do something like that with him?

"I mean to say that you're a catch" she said in a matter-a-fact way.

"A… catch?" he tilted his head, he had never heard the word used for a situation like this "what's that?"

"A catch is something a girl would look for in a boyfriend" Maka explained noting him get a little pink.

"W-why would you say I'm one of those?" he still didn't get it.

She looked up in mock contemplation "huh, well let's see…" she tapped her chin "why would someone like you make a good boyfriend for a girl?" she held out her hand and began tapping off reasons on her fingers "first off, you're incredibly smart and you're only a few spots below me back at the Academy" she pointed him in the face when she saw him start to protest "you're extremely loyal so a girl would never have to worry about you cheating on her" she noted a flash of anger go through his eyes when she said cheating and she nodded to herself "and what else is there? You're strong yet you hate fighting, you're sensitive and care about what people have to say, you're a perfect listener, and you're _great_ with animals" she extended her arms in exasperation "hell, you fit the dreams of so many girls it's crazy you're single."

"I… wow…" when he thought about it she had a point, he'd seen plenty of girls glance at him back at the Academy, though he had always thought they were judging him at the time. Huh, now that he thought about it, every time he'd ever been bullied at the academy was by boys, girls had never done anything mean to him before… wow, this changed things.

She saw the pieces begin fitting together in his head and she smiled again "see? You're a great guy Crona, one that a girl would love being with" she put an arm around his shoulders and gave him a friendly shake.

"Pfft, that's debatable" Maka's soft smile became a dark scowl at the sound of Ragnarok's voice.

"Shut up right now you little creep" she looked at Crona's back with venom "we're having a perfectly nice conversation and we don't need you butting in."

"Hey, I'm just saying that the whole 'every girls dream' thing is a little iffy, I mean come on, most chicks go for body builders, and honestly this guy isn't anywhere _near_ that weight class."

"A guy doesn't need to be an Atlas to impress a girl, and I should know" she gave Crona another shake "you may not pay attention at the academy but there are a bunch of girls that talk about him."

"Whatever, I'll believe it when I hear it, till then, I'm calling BS."

"Jerk" she growled while Crona came to terms with all he had just heard.

Maka thought that he was all of those things, she had said that she admired all those things about him. He had a ghost of a smile on his lips while Maka went on a little rant about Ragnarok's insensitive crap. Maka _admired_ things about him! He had always thought she'd never think about him that way, but this changed that, she had just told him why girls would love to be with him after all! He may have more of a chance with getting with her then he thought… though talking with her about it; that was another thing entirely.

"So yeah Crona, you shouldn't listen to a jerk like Ragnarok, or any boy, they're totally wrong" Maka patted his back "you're definitely someone a girl would love being with."

"Thanks Maka" Crona smiled at her "that means a lot."

"No problem" she then nudged her head to the side and when Crona looked he saw that they were already at Renge's "well, we're here" she smirked again "come on let's not keep your girlfriend waiting" she poked his side jokingly while he squirmed.

This was definitely going to take some getting used to, but Crona forced himself through the playful teasing as they came to a stop at the gate. He pressed the buzzer built into the stone and waited for a reply, squirming every now and then when Maka poked his side talking about what a nice couple he'd make with a girl like Renge. It was a minute or two of total agony and hell for the boy before it buzzed back "hello?" a woman's voice came.

"Um, Renge?" he frowned, that didn't sound like her at all "it's Crona and Maka… we're here for the study night?" were they at the right house? It looked like it, but here were plenty of houses nearby that looked alike. Oh this would be so _embarrassing_ if he got it wrong somehow, he'd look so stupid!

"Oh, yes! The mistress said she'd be having guests over" the woman said warmly before the gate creaked open "master Fujioka arrived a few moments ahead of you, please come in."

Crona breathed out in relief yet again as he and Maka stepped inside the gate, thank goodness he hadn't messed this up, the last thing he wanted to do was look like an idiot in front of Maka, that would be too embarrassing to bare.

"You ok?" Maka inquired curiously when he breathed out "are you really that eager to see her?"

"Makaaaaa" he whined "cut it out, she's just a friend, nothing else!"

She bit back a laugh "ok, ok I promise I'll stop" she held her hands up "it's just so fun to tease you."

"That isn't very nice" he puffed out his cheeks in a pout.

"Aw come on, it's adorable with the way you react" she poked one of his cheeks making him blow out earning a laugh from her "just like that!"

Crona tried to keep the pout up but he just couldn't hold it when he saw that smile on her face. She always managed to brighten things up for him, even if she was teasing him like she was right now. Just one more thing to look forward to and keep him going with the Hosts so he could finally talk with her, he thought, it would all be worth it if he could see that smile everyday.

The boy was so enthralled with this happy thought that he was actually startled when the door suddenly swung open as he reached for it "hello Crona!" Renge called out as she nearly tackled him in a hug "it's so wonderful to see you!"

"H-hi Renge" he squeaked out, trying to slyly squirm out of her grip "I uh… I-I'm sorry you couldn't come to the party today" was the only thing he could think to say.

Thankfully she let go of him and faced him with a smile "oh that's alright, I get you all to myself for a good few hours" she then faced Maka and smiled sweetly "hello there Maka" she gave her a bow.

"Hello" Maka mimicked her bow.

"It's wonderful to see the two of you, please come in" she stepped back and gestured for them to enter.

They did as she said and as they walked through the house Maka looked around, nodding to herself "you know, I didn't really think to look last time what with the shock and anything, but your house looks _great_!"

"Why thank you" Renge smiled sincerely "though it's not my house, my real one anyway, it's one of my father's estates he's letting me use while I'm here in Japan."

That got a reaction from Maka "wait so… so if this is an estate then your house is _better_ right?" she asked incredulously.

Renge nodded slowly eyebrows knit in a frown as if what Maka was asking was the strangest thing she had heard "yes, my home is much fancier then what we have here."

"Wow" was all Maka could say.

"Yeah… you'll get used to it" Crona rubbed the back of his head with a shaky smile.

"Ok then…" Renge glanced back at them, giving them a strange look "uhh, Haruhi? The others are here!" she called turning to face in front of her when they reached the living room.

"Finally! I've been waiting forever!" Haruhi nearly yelled "do you two have any idea how long you've kept me waiting?" she grabbed Crona's vest and shook him a bit.

_"Ha-ru-hi!"_ he slurred through the shakes "_what_…_are_… _you_… _doing_?"

"Not eating fancy tuna, that's what" she had an almost wild look in her eye when she let him go and turned to the table behind her "ok, they're here, can I have some now?" she practically begged Renge.

Who in turn held a hand over her mouth to stifle her laughs "yes, that's alright."

"Thank you!" she cried grabbing a plate which soon was being filled with the fish she loved.

"Uhh…" Crona watched the girl as she filled her plate up with fancy foods while he attempted to straighten himself. His clothes were ruffled and his hair was a mess and he was met with an understanding and mildly humored smile from Renge.

"Haruhi here has a love for the brand of tuna many people at the academy enjoy buying, one that he unfortunately can't afford himself" Renge helped straighten out the neck of Crona's vest "he'll do almost anything for it and when it's just sitting in front of him and when he's not aloud to eat it, well…" she shrugged and gestured to the girl who was already eating as they spoke "let's just say he gets a little restless."

"I'll say" Maka chuckled, patting out a wrinkle on Crona's shoulder "he nearly killed poor Crona here."

"What can you say? Boy's will be boys" Renge shrugged earning an eye-roll and nod from Maka.

"Boy, do I know that."

"I can believe it" Renge laughed "you look like someone who's dealt with troublesome boys" she smiled over at Haruhi then clapped her hands "oh well, how about we sit down and join Haruhi for a meal shall we?"

"Y-yes, that sounds nice" Crona looked around the living room then back to Renge "oh um, where's your fridge? I brought some cake from the party… since you missed it and all, I thought you'd want some" he held up the bag.

"Oh, that's so thoughtful" Renge smiled sweetly as she reached for the bag "here, I'll take it for you, go ahead and get comfortable" she took the bag and gave him a sidelong but still warm hug "we'll get started going over our assignments after we've had a bite to eat."

"Ok… thank you" Crona smiled, then shifted around on his feet when she turned away. He still wasn't used to other people hugging him, but it wasn't like it was bad or anything, he could deal with it.

His thought was then interrupted when he felt a nudge in his ribs and when he turned he saw Maka grinning at him widely "what?" he asked warily.

"What?" she shrugged with a little laugh "I didn't say anything."

"But you were _thinking_ something" he pointed at her, feeling even more cautious "what were you just thinking?"

"Oh, nothing much, some stuff" she went over to the table, with a sly smile on her face.

But he wasn't giving up; he had to know what she just thought "what kind of stuff?"

"Hey, you said I needed to stop talking about couple stuff, so…" she pinched her fingers over her lips and trailed over the edge "_vvvvmp_! Lips sealed."

"Come on Maka" he was getting that whine again "stop being mean."

"Mean?" she pressed her hand to her heart with a mortally hurt expression "why Crona whatever do you mean?" her voice dripped with mock innocence "I'm simply following a promise I made to a friend."

"Come on!" he whined stamping his foot "that's not fair."

_"What are you two talking about?" _Haruhi slurred through a mouthful of tuna with a curious look.

"Oh nothing" Maka chuckled sitting down next to the Host.

"No, it _is_ something, why won't you tell me?" Crona's voice was so close to begging that it was hilarious.

"Tell you what?" Renge asked coming back into the room.

Which immediately got a reaction from Crona "nothing" he quickly shot out.

Maka glanced at him and then ever so slowly a grin broke out across her face "hmm… you know what, I think you're right Crona, maybe I should tell you-"

"No! No, I'm fine, it can wait" he said assuredly.

"You sure?" she asked with a smile "you seemed _so_ intent on hearing it."

"Well I changed my mind" he shifted in his seat "so um, what were we going to be studying tonight?" he asked, worrying about nothing more then changing the subject.

…

"You understand what you have to do right?" the man in the vest asked, holding out the piece of paper in his hands.

"Oi come on Boss, have we ever let you down before?" Johnny asked, taking and pocketing the message.

"No, but it's always good to be careful."

"We understand that" Johnny nodded towards his brother who was currently rolling on the balls of his feet, humming and snickering happily.

"Oh, we're gonna have such a _smashing_ good time with these little poppets tonight" the mouth of Jake's mask opened into a toothy grin "we almost never get to have fun with so many eh brother?"

"Right" Johnny glanced over his shoulder at the estate across the street from the three of them "this _is_ gonna be fun" he snickered.

"And it'll be even better for me afterwards" the man turned and walked away "so be sure not to mess this up!" he called behind him.

The brothers watched him as he left then turned to each other "oi, what's eating at 'im?" Jake asked.

_"I-don-know" _Johnny shrugged "I guess he doesn't like this batch or something."

"Huh, well still he didn't have to be so rude, reminding us every five minutes to be careful" Jake crossed his arms with a pout "I mean, bloody 'ell, we been doing this for how long now?"

"Years."

"Exactly! And he's gonna tell _us_ how to do our job?" Jake shook his head as they moved across the street to the gate.

"Hey, it's like I said, he _really_ must not like this batch" Johnny waved his hand "just forget about it alright? I know he's actin' like a wanker right now, but just think how he'll be when we're done."

Jake sighed "alright, I suppose you got a point there brother" he grinned again, looking towards the estate "and, he _did_ give us four after all, I can't stay mad at 'im after he gives us somethin' like _that_!"

"Exactly!" Johnny gave his brother a friendly punch in the arm "which is why we shouldn't waste anymore time flappin' our gabs out 'ere, we got a party to crash" he grinned as his hands glowed at his sides.

"Right brother" Jake chuckled behind him as his hand morphed into his hammers "oh I can't wait, I heard we got a couple cute little Americans 'ere."

"No foolin'?" Johnny asked happily "he really _did_ give us a good time tonight! What a mate!" he laughed as he and his brother squeezed themselves into the bars of the gate "what… a…_mate_" he chuckled low in the direction of a lit window.


	7. Bloody 'ell

"Hey Crona?" Renge asked suddenly "aren't you going to have any?" she asked, holding a plate of cake over to him.

Which he immediately scooted away from "n-no I'm fine! I had plenty at the club" he choked back something foul at the sight of the treat on the plate "besides, I-I brought it for the rest of you, I don't need any."

"Alright…" Renge gave him a puzzled glance but turned back to the sheets below her "you know" she began, trying to strike up some conversation "I'm really amazed at how easy this is for the two of you" she noted, looking up at Maka "most kids in the classes have trouble with all these assignments but you two just go right through them."

"Yeah, well we had a lot of practice being straight A's at our old school" Maka shrugged with a hint of embarrassment but also pride.

"Actually, _you_ were a straight A student" Crona poked absentmindedly at the bed comforter below him "_I_ still had problems until you helped me with them" he said truthfully, he didn't understand most of the normal school things he went over when he first started at the Academy, but then Maka showed him some studying habits that helped him get his grades up easily.

"Oh come on Crona, you weren't _that_ bad, you already had C's and an A before I got to you" Maka patted his shoulder "you just needed a little push in the right direction and the rest you did yourself."

"Well whatever the case it's definitely helping out now" Haruhi grinned, writing some notes down "English has always been my worst subject, but thankfully you two get it perfectly."

"_Crona_ get's it perfectly actually, English was his A class, me I barely pulled an A out of it" Maka chuckled a bit, poking at the blanket below her.

"Huh, seems a bit strange seeing as how you read books everyday" Haruhi noted.

Earning a shrug from the Meister "just because I love reading doesn't mean I'm good at writing like they made us do in that class" she rolled her eyes "and besides, I only like reading things like Crime and Mystery novels with the occasional romance thrown in, anything else and I just zone out" she shook her head remembering some things "like Romeo and Juliet, things like that bore me to sleep, and that's why I barely got through it all."

"That makes sense, everyone has their preferences" Renge agreed, taking another bite of her cake.

"And it's not that it's old or anything it's just that I _hate_ how much of an idiot they made Juliet, I mean come on the ending was horrible, and it was all because of her faking her own death just in time for Romeo to find her and when she wakes up she just kills herself!" she fell onto her back on the bed with a groan "how is that entertaining? It's just stupid, there's no romance or anything in there."

"I've never read anything about that play, but now I think I don't want to" Renge set down her now empty plate "is that really how it ends?"

"Pretty much" Maka nodded from her new position "though it all happens over like half an hour so it's even worse when you figure out what's going to happen before hand and have to sit through it all."

"Wow, that bad huh?" Haruhi glanced over at Crona.

"It really wasn't good at all" he shook his head "I-I know it's a tragedy sure, but it should at least be nice to read or watch till that sad point."

"Man; that sounds horrible to have to sit through all that" Haruhi gave the two Meisters a sympathetic look.

"Yeah, but at least all of that's done, the other things we had to go over were much more bearable" Maka pushed herself back up "I don't know what I would have done if…" her expression became puzzled for a moment before she turned towards a window.

"Is something wrong?" Renge asked with a frown while Crona tensed up a bit. Did Maka feel something?

"No… I don't know I've just been getting this weird feeling for most of the day" she stared at the glass for a while longer then turned back to the others "I keep getting the sense that someone was watching us but I never found anyone" she glanced at Crona and gave him a slight almost unnoticeable shrug.

_"Something has her worried"_ and that terrified him because if the Eggs came _here_ then things would get bad. If Crona and Maka fought them here and if he so much as let off _one_ wrong scream, he could bring the entire house down… and probably kill every normal person inside.

"Uh, hey Renge?" he asked quickly, hoping he got a good answer "I was curious about something, a-all the maids and butlers, they don't stay here do they?"

She frowned at the sudden topic change but shook her head "no, they stay in the house next door, the estate may _look_ big but we couldn't fit all the servants in the bedrooms even if we tried… why?"

"No reason, just wondering is all" he said innocently, hiding his relief, so these two would be the only ones he and Maka needed to protect if the Eggs somehow _did_ get past Maka's soul perception.

"Sooo…" Maka looked around wondering what they could talk about to change the topic again "have you been settling in well at the Club lately Crona?"

"I guess" he shifted around with a bit of embarrassment "t-the girls seem to like me-"

"_Seem_ to?" Haruhi asked incredulously "those girls can't get enough of you! You know exactly what to do and say to get them happy."

"And I can vouch for that, the girls do enjoy sitting with you" Renge agreed "and I should know because I sat in front of you with them."

"Wow" Maka smirked, happy with the result of her topic change "I always said Crona could be a ladies man if he tried" she lightly punching his shoulder "makes me wonder how he doesn't have a girlfriend yet."

The other girls chuckled while the boy bit back a squeak "you know, she has a point there" Haruhi looked at him curiously as the humor slowly faded off "you've shown that you can talk to girls already, and can get plenty of girls to like you, so getting into a relationship should be easy."

"Yeah exactly, I've always wondered why he had difficulty before" Maka said with genuine and obvious curiosity.

And while the girls all now stared at him Crona squirmed on the bed, glancing every now and then at a corner "w-well I… I mean I'd like to but- I don't think it'd be smart to do it in school."

"Why not?" Renge frowned.

"Because there's…" he thought about it, what could he say? What could he _say_? "w-well… there's a chance I'll never see the person again?" thankfully he made it sound like more of a statement instead of a suggestion.

"Huh, I guess that makes sense" Maka nodded holding back questioning the lie she just heard, though the others bought it.

"Maybe" Haruhi nodded slightly "but you seem like a guy who could use a lady is all, and I think you deserve a chance at something like that."

"Exactly" Renge nodded enthusiastically "and there's plenty of girls who'd love to be with you" she smiled softly "I'd even like it."

Crona blushed deeply "o-oh, I… t-that's nice but I… I-" he looked at the corner again. Why did this have to be happening!

Maka smirked a bit "well, now that you mention it Renge, I kept telling Crona earlier that-" the sound of glass breaking cut her off.

The four looked around the room with confusion "what was that?" Haruhi glanced at the door.

"I don't know" Maka stared at the door warily "it sounded like it came from below" she glanced at Crona and shook her head.

"Renge?" he glanced at the girl "do you have a cat or anything?"

She shook her head "no, we don't have any pets."

He felt a shiver go down his back but hid it, taking a deep breath "I'll… I'll go check it out" he got up and walked over to the door. He was just reaching for the handle when he head a sudden tapping sound. He looked around the room then back at the door when there was a knock. _Knock_… _knock_… _knock_… "what the…" _Knock-knock… knock-knock-knock… knock._ The door exploded inward, knocking Crona backwards two feet and onto his back causing Renge and Haruhi to yelp.

Crona groaned down on his back while a sick pair of snickering voices started up "ellooo ladies!" one laughed as Crona picked himself up.

He looked up to find himself gazing at two men in suits and with masks that curved and covered the top of his head on. He could tell without the fact that one had hammers for hands "Kishins" this was bad. This was very, _very_ bad. Though… at the same time something was wrong, the two of them kept… _blurring_ every now and then, it was hard for him just to look at them. He shook his head, but the blurring kept happening every few moments. What was wrong with these two Kishins?"

They however didn't notice his confused expression as the other one's mask contorted so it looked like it was raising an eyebrow "oi, what's that you just said little poppet?" he looked at the other "Jake, what you think that word there means?"

The one with hammers shrugged "I don't know Johnny, maybe I scrambled her attic when I...opened the door" he snickered "oh well, it don't mean nothin', she'll die just like the others."

"True, true" the other looked between the four in front of him rubbing the chin of his mask "huh, the boss was right, we got quite a few fine little poppets tonight" he snickered before with a crack his mouth opened up "this is gonna be so much fun" his hands glowed before extending into his blades "oh so much" he licked a few of the blades.

"Who… w-what are you two?" Renge scooted back on her bed.

"Oh us?" Johnny pointed a blade to himself "we're just a couple o' men trying to make the most o' their gifts" he looked at one of his blades lovingly "and getting a nice bonus on the side from the mates who hire us that is" he snickered.

"What do you want?" she was shaking as Maka got off the bed and moved behind Crona.

"You been payin' attention to the news lately?" Jake asked raising a hammer with a grin "you see, there's been a couple o' nut-jobs goin' round slashin' and smashin' families every now and then" he chuckled "so what do you think? We 'ere to kill you o' course!" he broke out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Maka eyed them with venom.

"Oh nothin' little girly" Johnny laughed "my brother's just a bit over the top when it comes to murder."

"Come on brother, you know I can't help it!" Jake chuckled looking the four over "it's always so much fun playin' with em!" it was only on Haruhi and Crona that his gaze lingered. He stayed on them for a while longer then looked at his brother "oi Johnny? What do you make o' those clothes these two are wearin? The blue vests?" he pointed to Crona and Haruhi "seems a tick odd for a girl to wear."

Johnny looked them over "I don't know Jake, probably somethin' weird they do over at that big academy o' theirs" he shrugged "we never been there or anything so I couldn't tell you."

"Yeah, suppose you're right" he shrugged "oh well, a soul's a soul, no matter what's on the meat bag holdin' it" Jake laughed taking a step forward, but then he stopped when Crona moved himself between him and the Ouran students.

That door that hit him, a piece had flown and cut his shoulder, he could feel the blood soaking into the vest right now even if he killed these two Haruhi and Renge would see, they'd probably see him kill them too… they'd be afraid of him. Why, why did this have to happen? He was just having fun, he was enjoying time with his friends, he was spending time with _Maka_ and then these two just had to come and ruin it all! He was going to kill them for that, he was going to tear them apart, piece by piece for ruining his good time, for costing him two friends.

"Well, what's all this then?" Johnny cocked his head "a poppet standin' her ground? That's new" he laughed "oi Jakey, take care o' her would you?"

"Right brother" Jake laughed walking forward pulling an arm back "come on little poppet" he threw a punch with his hammer "let's have some-" the words caught in his throat when the hammer stopped in Crona's hand. Everyone but Maka looked from Crona to Jake then back "what the- _gurrrk!_" his words turned to a choked snarl when the boy's leg shot between his own.

"Jake!" Johnny looked at his brother as he fell to his knees holding his tenders "what the bloody 'ell is all this?" he snarled "you aint supposed to fight back!"

Crona stared down at the Kishin and then he giggled "you… you want to hit me even though you think I'm a girl" he chuckled "it's not polite to hit girls you know" he kicked Jake again, landing him on his back next to Johnny.

"You stupid little brat!" Johnny yelled raising his hand to cut Crona to ribbons "teach you some respect I will!" he brought the blades down, but they froze the moment they touched the boy's raised arm "what the 'ell is going on 'ere?"

Crona laughed more and more "hitting girls… that's so not right, that's so _weird_" he kicked Johnny in the stomach causing him to stumble back next to his brother "that's so wrong!" he pressed the hand if his wounded arm to his forehead giggling and snickering as the blood began to well up.

"What the 'ell is up with this kid" Jake snarled.

"How the bloody 'ell am I suppose to know!" Johnny yelled picking his brother up.

Crona looked at the two of them, laughing so much now that he was actually shaking "hey… do you two want to know something else that isn't right?" he asked while they readied themselves to rip this boy apart "my blood is black" he laughed as five drops floated into the air around him. The brothers only had a moment of surprise before they jumped back through the doorway as needles shot out towards them "hey? What are you two doing?" Crona called after them sounding confused "I thought you wanted to play" he chuckled and snickered as he followed them while more of his blood floated around him.

And while he did that Renge and Haruhi both watched him with horror till he was out of sight which Maka immediately saw when she turned to them "are you two alright?" she asked almost sadly.

Haruhi shook herself at the Meister's words "I, y-yes, we're ok" she looked back at the door and shook her head "what _was_ all that?"

"Look, you already know who we are and why we're here thanks to your friend Kyoya, so is what just happened really that hard to understand?" she looked to Renge who was still frozen "we'll explain everything to you after we take care of this ok? Just don't leave this room" she pointed at the two of them then bolted through the door after Crona.

Which just left Haruhi and the more then shell-shocked Renge "… Haruhi…" she looked at the Host almost angrily "what. Just. Happened?"

Haruhi shifted a bit uncomfortably at the look "well, it's kind of hard to explain-"

"We have all the time in the world now thanks to those two saving us, so I want to know everything you know about them so I can thank them properly for it" Renge jabbed the other girl in the stomach "so, tell me everything right now."

Haruhi really didn't want to tell her because Crona made her and the Hosts promise not to… though at the same time it's kind of hard to keep that secret after all of _this_, Renge would put two and two together even without her. She sighed and then nodded "alright… alright I'll tell you" she looked over at the door and turned to them "I take it you've heard of the Academy in Death City…"

'~~~'

"Come out, come out little ones" Crona called in a sing-song voice as he looked over the dark living room "there's still so much fun we can have together."

"Piss _off_ you crazy little tosser!" Jake yelled sprinting out of the kitchen, arm already raised. He hit Crona in the side and threw him into a table, splintering the wood everywhere "Johnny!"

"Ha-ha! Payback time little poppet!" Johnny laughed insanely, falling from the ceiling, blades ready to flay the boy alive. But again, the moment they hit him they didn't go through his skin earning a snarl from Johnny as he hopped back "what is _wrong_ with you! Why can't I cut you?"

Crona managed to push himself up and he laughed a bit "you guys are sneaky" he giggled looking up, but then he cocked his head with a frown when he found that the brothers were gone again "heyyy, where'd you go now guys?" he almost whined "that's not fair, sneaking around like that all the time, I don't know how to deal with fighting things I can't see."

"Then stop fightin' and just die already!" Jake roared coming from the ceiling this time, bringing both hammers down on the boy's head just as Johnny sprinted up behind him.

This time Johnny stabbed his blades forward instead of slashing and he grinned darkly when he punctured the back of the boy's shoulder earning a wince "ohhh, not so tough now are you, you little brat?" he ripped his blades out and hopped back as Jake backhanded Crona sending him into a dish-cabinet, making the silent house ring out with the sound of shattering glass and breaking wood "alright Jakey" Johnny snickered "you smash em, I'll stab~" he bit back the last word as he and his brother narrowly dodged a barrage of thick needles that shot out of the dresser.

"Owww…" Crona groaned pushing himself out of the cabinet, bits and pieces of expensive glass sticking and falling out of his back as his needles retracted into him "that really, really _hurt_!" he looked up slowly at the two Kishins as they picked themselves up quickly.

"Crona! are you ok" he looked to his right a bit sluggishly but then his eyes snapped wide when he saw who said his name.

"Maka! Get back to~" but it was too late, the Kishin Johnny already saw her and with a sick grin he lunged for her.

A look of confusion came over Maka's face when to her it seemed that the Kishin blurred, but when she focused she saw that he was just running at her. She reacted quickly and threw a punch, but she only hit his shoulder and slowed him a second before he grabbed and twisted the arm around her back. Maka only got to let out a pained gasp before one of Johnny's fingers pressed against her throat.

Crona's weariness and insanity burned away in an instant as he watched Johnny hold a blade over Maka's throat. Everything was quiet in the house except for the small _tinks_ of broken glass falling, but then Johnny laughed. It started off as a single ha, but then it got longer and more intense until he was practically shaking "aww, what's wrong love? Cat got your tongue?" he snickered as his brother came over to him, laughing himself now.

"Huh, maybe we can have a bit o' fun even after all this" he chuckled, hammers flashing into hands as he reached to brush her cheek with a finger.

Crona ground his teeth at the sight and a dozen baseball sized drops of blood came out of his wounds, but then Johnny pressed the blade against Maka's neck harder and the boy froze "ah-ah-ah, let's not do anything rash there little poppet" he chuckled tilting his head a fraction to look at Maka "ohhh, you're a pretty little girly you are" he laughed as his tongue slithered out the crack of his mask, licking up Maka's neck. This earned a disgusted and annoyed expression from Maka, but an enraged response from Crona as needle points jutted out of his blood drops "you don't need to worry little girl, if you just come with my brother and me, your friend 'ere won't die" he laughed a bit "well, except when we kill you all together that is."

"But don't fret little poppet" Jake snickered "we'll make it nice and quick~"

"I'm a boy" Crona said freezing the brothers and snapping their mask's smiles upside down.

Johnny stared at the boy for what felt like forever "… come again?"

"I'm a boy" Crona said again looking the Kishin in the empty black eyeholes of his mask "so stop calling me a girl" he said just as Johnny's blade wavered from Maka's neck due to his surprised confusion.

A needle launched out of one of the blood drops around the boy and Johnny only managed to turn his head a fraction before the needle pierced the top corner of his mask, jerking his head back. A chunk broke off his mask as his grasp on Maka faltered, giving her the chance to elbow him in the stomach and jump away.

"Johnny!" Jake grabbed his brother and jumped away as the rest of Crona's blood shot out towards them, managing to get out of the way of it all "brother? Brother are you alright?"

"Maka? Are you ok?" Crona took his eyes off the Kishins to see if she was alright and he was relieved to see that besides her hair being a bit ruffled she was safe and he felt even better when she nodded.

"You…" Crona's attention snapped back to the Kishins, more blood already forming orbs around him. Johnny was shaking as he clutched the part of his broken mask, a tiny tuft of smoky gray hair sticking out where his fingertips lay "you… _little_… _fucking CUNT_!" he screamed bearing his blades, revealing one blue eye and the bleeding cut above it "I'll cut you to pieces!" he made to lunge, but then Jake grabbed him and pulled them back as Crona shot another needle "I'll rip your insides out and shove em back down your bloody throat!"

"Come on brother! It's not worth it!" he pulled Johnny yanked him back and soon the other Kishin was dodging on his own "we've gotta go!" Jake ducked away from a needle and ran into the kitchen.

Johnny jumped away to dodge one last needle, and he stared at Crona hatefully "I'm gonna get you, you dirty bastard" he dragged the flat of a blade over his neck "gonna gut you, and everyone you love for makin' me bleed" he ran after his brother "gonna make you suffer for makin' fools outta us!"

Crona ran after them, going through the kitchen and to the patio, but the moment he stepped outside the house the Kishins were gone. He shook his head and walked back inside to find Maka on the couch rubbing her forehead "are you sure you're alright?" he asked, voice laced with worry.

She nodded however "don't worry, I'm alright" she breathed out, looking around the now needle ridden room "that was just insane."

Crona nodded "Yeah, I-I should probably take care of all this" he grimaced a bit, then snapped his fingers, liquefying the blood around him and bringing it back into himself, when all that was left was broken furniture and a hole ridden floor he turned back to Maka, he needed to make sure he was hallucinating at the time when he was fighting those Kishins "hey Maka… did you notice anything… _strange_ about those two?"

"It felt like you had trouble keeping track of them, even though they were right in front of you, didn't it?" she looked up at him, saying it exactly has he had thought.

He nodded "yeah… I don't understand why, but I lost track of them so easily, it was almost as if they disappeared and appeared somewhere else."

"Yeah… I think I know how Japan's division died" she got up and looked towards the kitchen "when that one, Johnny or whatever his name is, went for me" she looked back to Crona "he wasn't any faster then any ordinary Kishin, the only reason he and his brother seemed to be so fast, was because any one fighting then lost track of them even though they were coming right at them" she sighed again "Lord Death isn't going to like our report at all, losing them like that" then however she smiled a bit "though, at the same time, at least we learned something else about them."

"What's that?" Crona frowned.

"I can sense their souls, I can feel them right now too, fading away quick, but now I know that they hadn't slipped by us and killed anyone" she tapped her head "that feeling I told you all about earlier, I hadn't felt it before today, and the moment I looked at those two that feeling was the only thing going through my head" her smile grew "if they ever try something like this again, he'll be ready to go after them" she shrugged "so hey, maybe Lord Death won't be _that_ mad."

Crona looked around the practically destroyed living room they stood in "I… I'm not going to get my hopes up" he sagged a bit "we should probably go check on Renge and Haruhi."

Maka noticed how sad he looked saying that and she put a hand on his shoulder as he was turning "hey" he glanced back at her "you saved them ok? And Haruhi already knew who you were so don't get so worried about it" she patted his shoulder "it'll be ok."

Crona tried to smile, but it didn't work "I've learned that hoping for the best is stupid" he looked towards the stairs "it always leaves you disappointed and hurt when you're wrong and things don't work out" he walked to and up the stairs, leaving Maka watching him sadly.

She really needed to help him with problems like that, he always did that, expecting the worse in every situation. Maybe she could talk with Haruhi and try to help him out… or maybe she could talk with some of the other Hosts too. Come to think of it she knew almost nothing about them except that one was related to a Death-scythe, she knew nothing about what went on when Crona was with them. She frowned thinking about this as she went up the stairs, she should really pay a visit to the Host Club when she had the time, find out who Crona was spending his time with and if they were or weren't bad influences. And get Crona some help too that is, she could do that after she made sure these people weren't going to do anything to mess with him.

She caught up with him right at the door "hey Crona" he looked at her with that same sad look "ok, I know you're worried Renge will be mad at you I get that, but hey, just think about all those things she said about you before those things showed up" she patted his arm "you're still that same person she said she liked, so don't worry to much."

He looked at the doorway and then took a breath "… ok" he nodded, looking back at her "ok I'll try."

She smiled "that's all you need to do."

He returned the smile with a small one of his own "thanks Maka."

"No problem."

'~~~'

"What happened?" the man in the coat asked, looking between the two Kishins, though is gaze stayed on Johnny and the broken part of his mask, whenever he got a glimpse of it that is seeing as how Johnny was currently smashing around the warehouse cursing and shouting.

"A bloody mess that's what!" Johnny yelled, slicing through a box.

"We… didn't kill them" Jake looked at his brother, his mask contorted with sadness "any of them."

"Wait a minute" the man shook his head stepping forward "you couldn't manage to kill _one_ of those four?" he looked at Johnny who looked back with fury "even after I told you over and over again not to mess this up, to be care-"

"Shut up!" the man was on the wall in an instant, clutching his chest and gasping for breath, but then his breath hitched when Johnny's blades were pinned into the wall around his head like a cage "shut the fuck up you damn little wanker!" Johnny snarled into his face "told us to be careful, told us not to mess up you did" the blades closed on the man's head, scraping through the brick they were encased in "but you conveniently left out the part about the black blooded freak that was there waiting for us!"

The man was shaking at first, afraid he had gone too far, but at the mention of black blood his hidden expression became puzzled "wait… did you just say black blood?"

"Did I stutter?" Johnny yelled, yanking his arm back and releasing the man "it went just like normal at first, we broke in, found the poppets, and were playing with em, but then this one _bloke-_" he snarled again, looking back at the man "oh, that's right! You forgot to mention that two of em weren't missin' the family jewels didn't you boss?" he shook his head "forget it, I don't care anymore, so yeah, he get's up after Jake knocks em down, and he goes completely off his rocker and starts sending shooting damn needles at us, from his _blood_!"

"… Did he have a sword?" the man asked suddenly after thinking this over.

"What?" Johnny looked back at the man incredulously "bloody 'ell, are you on about? Where's a kid get a sword?"

"Ok, ok no sword" he massaged his temples thinking more "did he scream? Did you ever see anything glow purple?"

Jake had walked over halfway through Johnny's recount and now both brothers had frowns on their masks "no, why would the bloke have any o' that?"

"So no one came at you with weapons? None of the four there glowed and changed into weapons like you two can?" he pointed to the Kishins.

"No, none o' them" Johnny shook his head "why the 'ell are you askin' all this?"

The man breathed out in relief "good, so it's not them."

"Who boss?" Jake asked curiously.

"DWMA students" the brothers tensed up and then snarled "but from what you've told me, it couldn't be them" he shook his head "real DWMA members wouldn't let you go that easily."

"But then what the 'ell was up with that pink-haired bloke?" Jake asked "better yet why'd you even think he was part o' that bloody Academy in the first place?"

"Rumors and news are my business, my family's business" the man answered "and for a while I've heard stories about a member of the DWMA, a former Kishin Egg like you, and while no one I've talked to has ever seen him, they've all heard the same thing like how he can't be cut" he glanced at Johnny who twitched "because of the black blood inside him, it's also said that he can make blades and needles out of any part of his body and he wields a sword that has a mouth that screams" he sat down on a sturdy box "according to what I've heard he was given the blood by a witch who experimented on him and countless others to try and create the perfect… well _you_" he gestured to the brothers "the perfect god of madness."

"Sooo… you think that this is one o' those others then?" Jake offered "cause from what we saw he could just make a bunch o' needles and he couldn't be cut."

"I could stab em though, got em in the back o' the shoulder" Johnny growled,

"It's possible" the man nodded then he chuckled "so it seems the DWMA hadn't sent anymore after you" he shrugged "I suppose they lost track of you."

Johnny chuckled for the first time that night "yeah, that's pretty easy to do with us" he breathed deeply then sighed "ok… ok so this was just a freak thing" he nodded to himself.

"Exactly" the man nodded, but then he reached up and rubbed his chin as he thought about something "you know… there were rumors that the boy was the _son_ of the witch who experimented on him" he looked back at the brothers "I'm not saying that it _is_ him, but if there's even a chance that the boy you fought was the boy from the stories, just in a weaker state" he leaned back on the box "you two may have another witch soul on your hands."

The brothers stared at him for a moment then looked at each other, grins breaking out in unison "yeah…" Jake snickered "look at how strong we got from eating the first one" he changed a hand into a hammer as Johnny changed his fingers into blades.

"If that kid is the one from the stories" he chuckled, shaking now "we could probably take on that whole damn Academy" he laughed hysterically, looking at the man now "oh Boss, you got no clue how happy you just made me!" he actually came and hugged the man, lifting him off the box "and even if it isn't him, we can at least get stronger from whatever freaky piss is floatin' around in him" he set him down and the brothers hugged each other.

"This is great brother!" Jake laughed.

"I know" Johnny laughed "oh I can't wait to get a chance to gut that little bastard and his friends."

"I'm glad you feel that way now" the man straightened his coat as he stood up. He looked at the two newly invigorated brothers and then he sighed a bit "you know, it's too bad really, I would have enjoyed seeing their obituaries in the school papers."

"Aww, don't fret boss, you'll still get to see it when we're done with them" Johnny grinned darkly

Jake chuckled along with him as the man walked towards the entrance "and me and my brother will be lookin' forward to their funerals."

"Too right" Johnny looked down at his dangerous hands lovingly "I'll especially enjoy when they put the shoeboxes in the big hole."

At this the man stopped and turned "… why a shoebox?"

Jake grinned "because that's all that'll be left when I'm done with them."

The man chuckled "good to hear" he nodded to himself as he left the warehouse, leaving the two brothers to begin planning their revenge "maybe that obituary will come sooner then I expected" he chuckled again "oh I can see it now…" he looked up into the night sky, imagining the paper he'd read the day after that boy dies.


	8. I really hate mornings

_**Just a little quicky before the next chapter, just need some time to think about the set up is all.**_

* * *

Lord Death looked through his mirror at his two students in their temporary home, rubbing his mask tiredly "okey dokey then…" he sighed from exhaustion "so let me try and understand this…"

He had just spent the last _hour_ explaining the situation to _all_ of Renge's servants one by one, getting them all to sign a binding agreement that they would not talk about anything they had just learned about until the problem with the Kishin-Eggs was taken care of. _Then_ he had to spend another hour with Azusa approving all of the paperwork to send a crew over to Japan to repair Renge's home discreetly, it was all very tiring. But, at least all he had to do now was go over what had happened that night with his two students.

"So you two were just enjoying your time with your new friends, and throughout that time Maka here had a strange feeling that seemed to be getting worse as every minute passed" he looked to her and she nodded "you thought it was nothing so you all relaxed, but a few moments later you heard something come from the floor below and when Crona went to investigate the Kishins attacked out of no where, injuring him" he glanced at the ruined vest laying on the table then to the boy who was now in his usual cloak.

"That's right" Maka nodded again.

"And so do to his injuries, Crona's madness acted up and he attacked them" he had his arms crossed and he looked around the Death Room on his end "and throughout the time you fought them you could swear that it seemed you couldn't keep track of them, almost as if something _made_ you not want to pay attention to them."

"Yes, sir" the boy nodded. Maka glanced to the side and noted with worry how anxious he looked.

"And then, after a little more fighting between you and the Kishins, Maka came in to try and help, but then one of the Eggs, Johnny if I'm correct, grabbed her and tried to use her as a hostage" he glanced at the girl who was now looking down, ear's red, silently fuming at herself "but then thanks to something Crona said to confuse the two he managed to save you, and wound one of the Eggs… and then they got away."

Crona winced, looking down "y-yes sir" he then shook his head "sir I am so sorry I let them get away, I-I tried to go after them I really did-"

"Crona-"

"I could have stopped them, but I didn't, so it's all my fault-"

"Crona!" the boy winced again, then sadly opened his eyes, expecting a disappointed look, but he was surprised to see Death only shaking his head "tell me something… why do you think they got away?"

"Because I… I-I held back" he shifted on his feet.

"Yes, you held back" Death nodded "and why did you hold back?" he gestured for an answer.

"I… I was worried that I would… hurt the others if I used Ragnarok" he looked down.

"Ok" Death nodded again "so what's the problem?" he asked, giving Crona another surprise as the boy looked back up.

"What?"

"Let me explain this how I see it" Death tapped the mirror "you held back using your full power in order to protect innocent bystanders" he crossed his arms "and you know what else? Even when your insanity kicked in you held back" he chuckled "so why should I be angry because you did your job? Heck, if I should be anything, I should be proud of you."

"Did my job- they got away because of me!" Crona was so confused now.

"And think of what would have happened if you had gone full force and really tried to stop them" Death tapped the glass again "from what you've told me, even if you attacked with Ragnarok they could have gotten away, and if that's the case then there is a high chance that you could have killed or at least seriously wounded your friends for nothing" he held his hands out "so tell me Crona, what would the point be in killing those Kishins if you killed innocent humans as collateral damage?"

"I could have-" he was at a loss for words "I-I could have…"

"Stopped them? Yes you could have" Death nodded "but then you would have thrown away everything the Academy stands for" he turned around, shaking his head "we are here to _protect_ human beings from Kishins, so what would the point be in protecting someone who just dies from your very interference anyway?" he turned back "you did your job holding back, and anyone who faults you for it is either insane, or incredibly stupid" Crona could actually hear a smile in Death's voice "I'm proud of you, so stop worrying."

"I…" he had no idea what to say.

When Death saw that Crona wasn't going to say anything else he turned back to Maka "sure you two didn't kill the Kishins, but at the same time you've learned valuable information about them, and kept them from killing anyone else" he chuckled "not only that, but by holding back you may have even kept them from believing the Academy is after them at all" he clapped his hands together "so! All in all this isn't that bad at all, good work you two, keep it up" with one last nod the mirror went dark.

The two students were then silent as they stood there in front of the mirror, but then Maka smirked to the side "hey Crona?"

"Yeah?" he was still staring at the mirror with a dumbstruck expression.

"I told you so" he punched his arm softly "so let's recap what had just happened tonight shall we?" she sat down on the couch behind them and Crona simply fell onto it, still staring at the mirror "not only did Death just say you did a good job by holding back, but Renge and Haruhi were both incredibly happy to see you come back" she chuckled, remembering Renge almost tackling the boy in a hug when they returned "Haruhi had told Renge everything she knew, and that girl didn't care about it at all" she crossed her arms, feeling satisfied with herself "and here you were dreading it all, worrying that they would hate you for doing the things you did."

"I can't believe it" he shook his head, still staring at the mirror "things shouldn't be like-OW!" he winced, rubbing his arm now where Maka had suddenly pinched him "M-Maka! Why did you just do that!"

"I'm only showing you that this isn't all some dream" she shrugged, holding back a few laughs "because I _know_ you would have found some excuse to dismiss all of this as being too good for you" she pointed her finger right in his face "so don't even try it now."

"But-"

"Up!" she cut him off.

"But Maka-"

"Hush-up" she did it again. He opened his mouth again, but when Maka did the same he held back his words "there we go, was that so hard?" she asked with another chuckle before tapping his forehead "now stop thinking about negative thins so I can go get ready for bed, I want to go to sleep knowing you've got nothing but happy thoughts up here."

"I…" what was the point in arguing anymore? "… alright" he forced a smile out "I'll try."

"That's all I'm asking you to do" she patted his head and got up "well! Good night Crona" she stretched a bit "after the day we've had I think we should get a good night's sleep."

"Yeah, ok" he nodded, getting up himself "good night."

He looked at her door after it shut behind her and then he sighed. Today was so incredibly hectic that he almost couldn't believe it happened. First he had a fun time at Ouran having a party to welcome him, then the Kishins show up and ruin things, and now here he was again in a happy situation, he didn't get it.

"Sometimes I think the universe just wants to mess with me" he shook his head, walking towards his own room.

"And whose fault is that?" Ragnarok chimed in for the first time that night "admit it, you make it too easy."

Crona pouted "well maybe if I had some help it wouldn't get so bad" he shot back "and where were you tonight? I could have used you against those two, but you didn't help at all."

"Hey! I made a deal with the big guy not to come out unless we were fighting the Kishins alright?" an arm came out and pushed on Crona's nose "and that crap you were pulling back at the house wasn't what I would call fighting thanks to you holding back" the arm gave one last push then slid back "so until you can fight those two in a situation where holding back doesn't come into play, I'm going to stay in here all the time" he finished as Crona shut the door behind him "so try and make sure you're in a wide open space from now on, freakin' dumbass."

Crona's pout deepened _"as if today wasn't bad enough with the attack, now I have Ragnarok complaining about me"_ he sighed, lying on his bed _"I don't know how this week can get any worse"_ he shook his head.

"Aaand, you just screwed us" Ragnarok chimed in again

"What?" Crona groaned sleepily.

"You never say, or even _think_ something like that."

That snapped the boy awake as he shot up "Ragnarok! What have I told you about listening in my head!" he whined.

"What can I say? I get curious about what goes on in here" he chuckled "and why shouldn't I mister Casanova? This stuff is hilarious."

Crona's face broke out in a furious blush "shut up!"

"Oh don't get your panties in a wad dumbass, for once I actually approve" the boy felt him shaking his head inside "God knows it's about time you get _somebody_, so who am I to complain about you getting a little help?"

"Just stay out of my head" Crona grumbled, pouting to the side again.

"Whatever, no promises" the demon laughed, diving deeper to go to sleep while Crona fell back on the bed "please be wrong, please be wrong, please be wrong…" he chanted silently, hoping that Ragnarok would be wrong, the boy didn't think he could handle any more trouble this week, he was stressed out enough as it is.

…

The next day Crona nearly choked on his breakfast and killed himself when Maka asked him something "you~ y-you what!" he gasped through chokes.

Maka frowned at his reaction but said it again "I just wanted to know if anyone can come visit the Host Club" she shrugged, missing how pale he was getting "I haven't met any of them except for Haruhi, so I thought that I should stop by and get a look of the others."

"A-are you sure? What about your book club?" he offered, hoping he could change her mind.

She shook her head "no, unlike your club we do things every now and then instead of every day" she smiled then "so yeah, do people just show up? Or is there a process or something?"

"I… it's just…" he slumped slightly, holding back a sigh of defeat "they… usually you have to sign up with one of the hosts" he tried to keep the sad bitterness out of his voice and from her expression he saw she didn't notice any of it "but they allow visitors who are curious."

"Huh, alright then, seems easy enough" she nodded, picking her bowl up "alright then, so it looks like I'll be paying a visit later today, awesome" she smiled on her way to the sink.

Crona on the other hand had the exact opposite expression on his face "yeah… awesome" he slumped fully now _"well that's just great!"_ he felt like breaking the table now.

_"The hell is your problem?"_ Ragnarok was confused by this sudden change.

_"What do you think?"_ Crona mentally snapped as he got up to get his shoes _"she's going to the Host Club today, why shouldn't I be depressed?"_ he sagged as he walked _"they're all so much better then me, and they _know_ how to make women love them without any trouble, so why do you think I'm so angry now huh? Why would I be angry when I finally want to talk to the Hosts about helping me with Maka, and then she suddenly wants to meet all of them?"_

"_Huh… when you put it that way then yeah, I can see why you'd be pissed"_ the demon whistled _"wow! Yeah, you're pretty much screwed here."_

_"You're not helping"_ Crona grumbled.

_"Oh I'm sorry, did I sound like I was before?"_ Ragnarok voice dripped with mock surprise _"gee, I must be losing my touch."_

_"I really don't like you"_ the boy, coming out of his room.

That got a chuckle _"careful there Crona, I think I hear a backbone setting in."_

"Please stop talking" the swordsman tiredly groaned out-loud, earning an amused smirk from Maka.

_"Well at least his confidence is improving" _she smiled, opening the door _"I remember a time when he would never even _think_ of saying something like that to that little creep"_ she tugged the boy through the door "come on Crona, the Host Club awaits!"

"Yeah, hurray" she frowned at him once more, but then shrugged to herself, after a night like yesterday she could understand him having a bitter morning.

Crona glanced over to Maka as they walked and throughout the entire time he couldn't help feeling angry about all of this _"hey… you know what Ragnarok?"_ the boy asked, earning a grunt in response _"if there really is a god who makes everything happen for some reason… I think I'd kill them if I ever met them."_

_"Oh hell yeah! I second that" _the demon agreed_ "anyone who lets me get turned into a little shrimp like I am now deserves everything coming to them."_

_"Yeah"_ Crona sighed again, just imagining what kind of problem would come out of nowhere today.

Hopefully Ouran wouldn't end up ruining his day even more then it has already, but knowing his luck things were bound to get worse there. He already just lost almost every chance of being with the girl of his dreams, so why not throw in something else? Oh he could see it now, maybe some random accident would break a couple of his bones and expose him to the entire city, or maybe another group of bullies would attack him again for no reason. See, situations like this were the exact reason why he never hoped for the best, because the best usually _never_ happened to him. But he swore, if anyone tried picking on him today he was going to hurt them, he didn't even care who saw at this point.

_"I really hate mornings now"_ he was actually scowling at the ground as he walked behind Maka.

_"Well that's alright, I just plain hate the day in general"_ Ragnarok chuckled.


	9. Planning for Success

Have you ever had that day where you wanted school to end for some completely random reason just so you can get out? Well Crona was having that day. Each class he sat through was filled with more anxiety and worry then the last and he just wanted to get this all over with before something happened to make it all worse. He wanted this day to end, he wanted this mission to end, and he wanted to go home, because at least that way he wasn't going to lose every chance of being with Maka.

It wasn't even fair at all, what was happening to him, he _knew_ this as he walked through the halls towards the Music Room. He had decided that morning, he had decided he wanted their help with Maka, but oh no, the universe wasn't going to have that was it? Crona doesn't get to be happy, Crona doesn't get to have a happy relationship, Crona is meant to be alone and miserable for his entire life. It didn't matter how hard he tried in life, it didn't matter how much good he did, he was just supposed to be lonely in the end.

He was so depressed about all of this that when he entered the Music room all of the Hosts immediately took notice. And while some, Haruhi, Mori, and Honey, decided they should leave him be, the rest wanted to know exactly what was wrong, besides Kyoya who wanted to talk for a different reason that is.

"Is something wrong Crona?" Tamaki frowned at the young boy's miserable expression.

"No" he shook his head, wanting to do nothing more then get this over with "I'm fine, I just had a bad morning."

"A bad morning?" Kyoya raised an eyebrow "oh I'm sure it was much more then simply that."

_"Great, of course he found out about last night"_ Crona kept himself from sighing, so there's another round of questions he'd have to answer, just great.

"So what's the real reason you're so upset?" Kyoya inquired.

"I don't want to talk about it" he turned to walk to a table, but nearly jumped when he found the twins in his way.

"Oh no, we want to know what's wrong with our little friend" Kaoru took one of the boy's arms.

"So spill it, what's got you all bummed out?" Hikaru took the other.

"Really, I don't want to talk about it, okay?" Crona tried squirming away, but the twins wouldn't let him.

"You really should just tell us Mister Gorgon" Kyoya hid a smile "when the twins here set their minds on finding out something they can be surprisingly tenacious."

"Please just let me go, I don't want to talk about it so why can't you just deal with that?" the boy tried squirming again but once more the twins kept him still.

"Look" Hikaru tightened his hold on the boy's arm "we've seen how the girls react around you, when you're happy their extra happy."

"And when you're sad, they want nothing more then to help you" Kaoru followed his brother's move, tightening his hold "but right now you won't even tell _us_, so if they ask and you blow them off, then they'll get sad, and nobody wants that."

"I know I just…" Crona shook his head.

"Crona, it really would make everyone happier if you answered" Tamaki came and patted the boy's shoulder "and hey, we might even be able to help you with whatever the problem is."

The boy didn't see how that could work seeing as how the Hosts _were_ the problem in this situation… but… maybe he was being overly bitter, it's not their fault that they're how they are. He could also be overreacting to everything too, after all Maka lived with someone like _Soul_ for years and every time Crona was with them she never seemed to be falling for the older teen. And besides, they were going to find out about his feelings for Maka anyway, so it really didn't change anything by happening this way… didn't mean he had to like it though.

Still, he really didn't want to talk to anyone about this after the way things had just gone, but finally he sighed in resignation as he stopped struggling "… ok" the twins glanced at each other, then with a nod they let him go.

"So… what has our charming little commoner feeling so down?" Tamaki inquired.

"I… my friend Maka wants…" he slumped, feeling incredibly uncomfortable about this all "she wants to come and visit the club, and meet all of you."

And while almost everyone frowned Kyoya only smirked slightly "ah, so that's it."

"Wait a second, I don't get it, why's that a problem?" Hikaru glanced at the other teen.

"Isn't it obvious?" Kyoya asked with amusement as the others came over with curious expressions "Crona's very _close_ friend from his Academy is coming to visit us today" that little focus on the word _close_ gave everyone the link they needed to piece it all together.

"Oh… _oh!_" Kaoru felt surprised by this new information at first but he quickly recovered and felt a spark of pride for the boy, he didn't think Crona thought about stuff like normal people did, seeing as how he was so naïve about life "alright then, so _that's_ it" he nodded to himself as his brother did the same.

The other Hosts besides Kyoya, and a certain… clueless individual took this in and soon found themselves feeling happy for the boy they were standing around. Haruhi after all had wondered how he didn't have someone with him yet, but this definitely solved a lot of questions she had. The others however were now thinking about ways to help the boy out, because without even having to agree on it out loud they all knew he deserved something like a relationship.

"Well in that case you don't need to worry one bit" Hikaru patted the boy's back "we'll behave" he nudged his head towards his brother as the other Hosts smiled.

All except for one tall blonde "hang on a moment, what are you all talking about?" Tamaki looked at the other Hosts, his confusion evident "is there something I'm missing here?"

The others all looked at the King for a moment of disbelief but then as one they sighed, shaking their heads "clueless" they spoke in unison, earning frowns from both Tamaki and Crona.

"It's nothing Tamaki" Kyoya refrained from rubbing his temples to ease his growing headache. How anyone could be as brain-dead and clueless as Tamaki when it came to deep relationships like this was beyond Kyoya's understanding "just make sure to be on your best behavior for our guest today."

"I always am" Tamaki said a bit defensively "but really, what am I missing?"

Hikaru shook his head "let's let him find out on his own, it shouldn't be _that_ hard, even for him."

The other Hosts agreed, leaving Tamaki with all his unanswered questions "really, come on, Kaoru? Honey?" he followed them as they went to prepare for the day "somebody please tell me what's going on…"

Crona watched them as they left, feeling a little bit reassured, but not much. Just because the Hosts weren't going to try and get Maka to like them doesn't mean it still won't happen, they're _them_ after all. He was just about to go after them to help when he felt a tap on his shoulder, and when he turned he found Kyoya there "Mister Gorgon, a moment?"

"Oh, um, sure" Kyoya turned and the boy followed him over to the door to the costume room "uh… w-what exactly do you want to talk about?"

"Nothing much actually, I simply wanted to thank you in private for what you did last night."

Crona wasn't that surprised to hear that Kyoya found out but still, he'd like to know how "uh, Mister Kyoya? How… exactly did you find out about that?"

"Why my dear cousin of course" he smirked "she always tells me about serious developments that happen here in Japan" he nodded to himself "but that's beside the point, I simply wanted to thank you for keeping two of our most important members from being killed last night by those creatures."

"Oh, I-it's no problem really" Crona waved his hands, not wanting to make a big deal out of it "I um, about Miss Azusa telling you… do any of the others know about it?" Lord Death would _not_ be happy if he had to talk to another group of people.

Kyoya however thankfully shook his head "besides Haruhi of course, no, none of the others know anything went wrong yesterday."

That was odd "… why not?" they seemed to share everything here at the club with each other.

"It's simple really, it would cause more harm then good."

That earned a frown "what do you mean?"

Kyoya smiled slightly, but to Crona it almost looked sad for a moment "you weren't here for it, but after all of those girls died the Hosts were quite a ways sadder then they are now" he looked over at his coworkers "so if I or Haruhi told them about what happened last night all it would do is make them worry again and your promise would keep them from telling the girls what's wrong if they asked" he turned back to Crona "and if that happens then the girls will be neglected and ignored when the Hosts start thinking about unpleasant things and will eventually stop coming until the problem is solved" he shrugged "all together it would be bad business for the Club."

"Oh" he hadn't thought about any of that.

"Yes, it doesn't sound like it would be a very prosperous outcome for us if we told the other Hosts" he smiled slightly again "so why not let them live in blissful ignorance until you've taken care of all of this?"

"Yeah" he nodded slowly, wondering how he couldn't have thought about the Club's reaction to last night "I'll try to fix this as fast as I can."

"Oh don't worry, there's no need to rush yourself" Kyoya assured as he began walking back to the table "after what happened yesterday I can safely assume they'll forget about killing our girls and want nothing more then to go after you" he faced forward as Crona's walk faltered for a moment "so they'll come for you eventually."

The boy paled slightly, why wasn't he thinking of any of this? "Oh…"

"Quite" Kyoya chuckled a bit "but you shouldn't need to worry, from what I heard that friend of yours coming today has a powerful perception ability, so I should think you'd be ready when they come."

At least he had thought about _that_, but that wasn't exactly what had him smiling about her "yeah, she can find things pretty easily when she tries."

Kyoya glanced at the boy out of the corner of his eye as they stopped at Crona's usual table "you really are fond of her aren't you?"

Crona reddened a bit, but soon found himself slowly nodding "she… she's the only reason I'm here today" he poked at the table cloth "not to mention that she was the one who helped me deal with people."

"Hmmm, seems you still need a little help dealing with… _people_" another chuckle that made Crona resist the urge to squirm in his seat "well that's why we're here, luckily we've dealt with cases such as yours many times before" his lips suddenly curved down in a slight scowl "though… it would have probably been much simpler for many of them if our King was able to see relationships like yours"

"What do you mean?" Crona frowned "w-what's different about my… _relationship_?" he had to keep from stumbling on that last word.

Kyoya smirked again "for one thing it appears to be one sided" the older boy noticed Crona's saddening expression "not in the way you're thinking however" Crona looked up "from what I've heard from the others you two are incredibly close, so close that your friend Maka is almost like a sister to you, looking out for you, and helping you when she has the chance" he held out his hands "and there I believe is the problem, she's so focused on helping you, keeping you safe, that she probably has no time to even think about you in the way you're hoping" he nodded to himself "so! What I suggest is-"

"Actually, that's not true, her not thinking about him that way" the two turned and Crona jumped in his seat to find Haruhi leaning on the table "the night we were at Renge's Maka spent a while talking about what a great guy Crona is" she chuckled a bit while Kyoya raised an eyebrow then stood up straight as she began tapping her fingers "let's see here, I remember hearing smart, strong, loyal…"

"Haruhi!" Crona sank low in his chair "cut it out."

"Ok, ok, I was just making a point" she laughed holding up her hands "she knows you're a great guy."

"But?" there was always a but with good news when it came to Crona.

"From what I saw I can tell she really cares about you, and from the way you two act around each other I know she can tell you care about her, you seemed like you were almost like family" she shrugged "so from what I can tell maybe she's looking out for you and she thinks you deserve someone else" Crona was just about to deny that, but she cut him off "_or_ _maybe_…" she then tapped his forehead "she thinks you don't feel that way about her so she's worried about making things awkward between you if she tried taking it any further."

"Well then, that makes things easier" Kyoya nodded, rubbing his chin as he thought about things "so… I suggest the first thing we need to do is earn Miss Albarn's friendship today when she comes to visit us" he looked over at the other Hosts just as the doors opened up, letting in a few customers "then after that you let us have some private time with her when we get the chance, to try and harden our idea of her feelings for you, and then work from there."

"Seems alright with me" Haruhi nodded "I can already spend some time with her since she knows me, so I can get things from her a little bit sooner."

"Excellent" he then finally turned to Crona "so what's your take on all of this?"

"I- uh, I-I-I…" he had no idea what to say, in a few short minutes Kyoya had just planned out the beginning of a way to do something that Crona couldn't do in months! "… s-sure, do whatever you want."

"Perfect" he smiled, then turned to the other Host "Haruhi, if you would be so kind as to tell the others about what we're doing" she nodded, but before she could go he held up a finger "one thing though" he smirked "don't tell Tamaki."

Haruhi grinned and nodded "right."

Kyoya watched her as she went away then he finally turned back to Crona "so… things are turning out well for you aren't they?" he chuckled a bit at the boy's slightly shell-shocked expression "_oh_! Yes, I almost forgot to finish what I was saying before Haruhi showed up" he tapped on the table as he regained his thoughts "Tamaki has trouble seeing most one sided relationships, he usually needs to hear it from one of us and then he takes it in stride" he sighed "though at times it gets increasingly annoying so we enjoy giving him a difficult time every now and then, hence our blowing him off."

"Oh… I wondered why you all did that" Crona glanced over at the King and noticed him doing an almost puppy-dog look towards the other Hosts as Haruhi whispered to them. He had a small laugh "you know, it's actually a little funny."

"It really is" Kyoya actually laughed a bit at that "oh well, we'll be ready for your friend when she shows up, things should go well" he bowed "try your best today, you're going to having an interesting audience today" and with that we walked over to get his board, today really _was_ going to be interesting for him.

Crona watched him as he left then turned to the door just waiting to see the face he was expecting "I really hope things work out" he slumped a bit "I really, _really_ do."

_"Hey, look at it this way"_ he felt Ragnarok stir within him _"if _you _can get that chick to like you, these guys shouldn't have any trouble at all."_

"Thanks Ragnarok" he mumbled grumpily "that means so much."

_"Anything to help my favorite little wimp"_ Ragnarok chuckled _"now straighten up and get yourself ready, I'm not letting you mess all this up for yourself"_ he felt the demon shiver inside him _"the angst you'd go through after would be far to much for my oh so _positive_ outlook on life"_ he said sarcastically _but seriously though, don't screw this up or I'm going to eat your breakfast and lunch for a week."_

Crona gulped "r-right, yes sir" he tapped his fingers repeatedly to keep his hands from shaking as he saw more and more girls walked through those doors "I really hope the Hosts don't mess up, she'll probably take me out of the Club if she doesn't like them" that thought scared him more then anything. The Hosts had already helped him in minutes of learning about his feelings and if he got pulled out then everything would be ruined "please, _please_, _**please**_ like them" he begged silently.


End file.
